—ON THE PICKET LINE—

Maggie Trowe, Editor

 

New Zealand bus drivers strike over hours, working conditions

AUCKLAND, New Zealand — Some 1,100 drivers, members of the Tramways and FIRST unions, picketed at depots across the city during a 24-hour strike against two Auckland bus companies Feb. 19, shutting down 70 percent of bus service.

The 1,000 drivers at NZ Bus and 89 at Howick and Eastern Buses were protesting poor working conditions, low pay and stalled contract negotiations. Howick and Eastern bosses want to end time-and-a-half pay for overtime.

Drivers from a number of NZ Bus depots walked the Howick and Eastern picket line during the strike.

At the Onehunga depot pickets carried placards saying, “NZ Bus you’re killing us” and “No family life causes strife,” expressing anger at long hours, lack of bathroom breaks and more split shifts. Some drivers are away from home for 15 hours with a four-hour unpaid break in the middle of the day, Tramways Union President Gary Froggatt told Radio New Zealand Feb. 19.

“We get very tired,” said a woman driver on the picket line, who asked that her name not be used. “Sometimes we only have a couple of minutes between trips, and that’s not enough to get to the bathroom.”

The company has offered a pay increase of 1.7 percent, which would raise wages to $20.75 (US$13.80) per hour.

NZ Bus is threatening layoffs after losing a contract for south Auckland routes.

The walkout follows two months of actions, including striking twice to hold union meetings and 10 days of “working to rule” — taking a 10-minute break at the end of each run, using a bathroom if needed and refusing to work for five hours without a meal break.

Driver Toby Peeni, who has worked for Howick and Eastern for four years, decided to become a union member last year. “The only way to get a better contract is to join the union and fight,” he told the Militant

— Felicity Coggan

Unionists in Montreal’s Old Port tourist area demand $15 an hour

MONTREAL — Unionized workers at the Vieux-Port (Old Port) historical tourist attraction here demonstrated at an open air skating rink on a busy afternoon Feb. 18 demanding $15 an hour (US$11), paid vacation and sick leave, and more pay for night and weekend shifts.

Public Service Alliance of Canada Local 10333, which represents 350 Vieux-Port workers whose jobs include maintenance, ticketing and security at the federally owned site, is in contract negotiations with port management. Nearly half the workers earn less than $15 and the majority work part-time, Pierre Veilleux, one of the organizers of the action, told the Militant. The minimum wage in Quebec is $10.55 (US$7.80).

Vieux-Port bosses want to reduce their contribution to the pension plan by half. Bosses have stepped up hiring nonunion subcontracted workers, often paying them more than union members.

Workers at the action wore “$15 an hour” T-shirts and unfurled a banner that read, “United in solidarity during negotiations.” Later they took the banner to the nearby Science Centre, where a benefit for the profit-making federal government business was underway, and leafleted passersby about their contract demands.

— Michel Prairie and
Marie-Claire David

Sweden: Cabin crew, pilots win union representation, contract

STOCKHOLM — After a two-day strike, pilots and cabin workers here won union representation and a contract. The workers are employed by temp agency Global Employer Company, which hires pilots and cabin crew for the United Kingdom-based carrier Flybe, a subcontractor since last year for some short runs of Scandinavian Airlines System.

Negotiations between Global Employer and the Unionen, which represents 30 cabin workers, started in December. When the company refused to sign a contract with conditions equivalent to the rest of the industry, the workers walked out Feb. 22. Flights were cancelled affecting more than 1,000 passengers.

Members of the Airline Pilots Association employed by the temp agency refused overtime starting Feb. 17. A week later ALPA announced that pilots would strike Thursdays, Sundays and Mondays until the company agreed to sign a contract, and that 900 pilots working for other regional carriers would refuse overtime.

The contract signed between Global Employer and Unionen gives cabin crew members a wage increase of $220 to $2,200 a month before taxes, prohibits split shifts, and sets the workweek at five days on with two consecutive days off.

The Pilots Association and the company reached an agreement Feb. 26, giving members at Global Employer the same contract as other regional carriers.

— Lars Erlandsson