South Auckland bus drivers strike to impact services during NCEA exams

Tuesday, 12 November 2019

A strike by bus drivers in south Auckland will disrupt services all day on Wednesday (file photo).

Bus drivers will go on strike on Wednesday morning, impacting services during school exams.

Drivers from Go Bus' East Tamaki and Airport bus depots in south Auckland will stop working for 24 hours from 4am.

On Monday, a two-hour strike involving 40 Go Bus drivers caused multiple school buses to be delayed and cancelled.

The NCEA Level 1 English exam will be held at 9.30am Wednesday and Level 2 statistics, media studies and home economics exams are at 2pm.

Papatoetoe High School principal Vaughan Couillault said it was 'disappointing and unfortunate' that drivers had chosen to strike on such an important day for students.

However, Auckland Transport spokesman John Nottage said will there could be delays and cancellations to some bus services, all school trips were expected to run as planned.

'Go Bus and Auckland Transport are working closely to ensure all trips are covered,' he said.

Fare dodging is less of a problem than Auckland Transport originally thought, with transport officers issuing an average of two tickets each over the course of a month.

An ongoing pay dispute between Go Bus and its employees has seen drivers refusing to collect fares and multiple suspensions handed out.

FIRST Union spokesperson Jared Abbott said bus drivers have been left no other option but to strike.

'Go Bus are undermining experienced drivers to keep wages low and pocketing the rest of it while their buses are under-maintained and their drivers are underpaid,' he said.

'We're asking passengers to be patient and empathetic, bearing in mind that strike action is the absolute last resort for bus drivers.'

Go Bus spokeswoman Kura Poulava said it was selfish of drivers to put their interests ahead of school students.

'We have sufficient drivers to provide services to get students to their examinations on time, but the conduct of union members at our depots in East Tamaki and the Airport will dictate whether we can do this safely,' she said.

'Everyone needs to consider the potential consequences of their actions, particularly as students are sitting exams which are critical to their future.'

The pay dispute began in May and bargaining is set to begin again on Friday.

Drivers are calling for a 14 per cent pay increase over the next two years, raising their hourly pay to $25.