'They can live a little better': 500 Canterbury bus drivers to get living wage

Friday, 16 July 2021

The current living wage is $22.10 and all bus drivers in Canterbury are paid less than this, according to the Amalgamated Workers Union. (File photo)

About 500 Canterbury bus drivers will be moved on to the living wage from September – a decision that will allow the drivers to live a little better, a union organiser says.

Environment Canterbury (ECan) has agreed to make funds available to ensure bus operators can raise drivers' wages to at least $22.75 an hour from September 1, matching what will then be the new living wage.

The announcement followed a Government directive last September to move all urban bus drivers nationwide onto the living wage.

The current living wage is $22.10 and all public bus drivers in Canterbury, including Greater Christchurch and Timaru, are paid less than this, according to the Amalgamated Workers Union.

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Wellington bus drivers went on strike in April for better pay.

“It just means maybe they can live a little better,” Amalgamated Workers Union assistant secretary Lindsay Chappell said of the pay rise.

Red Bus has lost out on winning contracts for three major urban bus units, comprising 13 routes, including the orbiter, orange and blue lines. (Video first published on February 27, 2020)

“Our drivers live day to day and that's a known fact … they struggle, and they've struggled for a long time.”

Bus drivers in Canterbury presently earned between $21.90 and $22.04 an hour, he said.

Rubbish truck drivers in Canterbury earned about $29 an hour, he said.

According to Living Wage Aotearoa New Zealand, the living wage was what a worker needed as an hourly wage to pay for “the necessities of life and participate as an active citizen in the community”.

Chappell said the living wage was just a minimum in the union's view.

“Ideally, we'd like to see them up to 25 to 28 bucks an hour, because that’s where they need to be.”

Drivers tended to work split shifts, Chappell said. This meant they would work eight hours, but did so over 10 or 11 hours with a break in the middle. Most drivers had to just hang around during the long break, he said.

ECan was now engaging with the operators of buses in Canterbury, Go Bus and Ritchies, to ratify contracts and allow the operators to increase their drivers' wages.

About 71 per cent of all urban bus trips in Canterbury were on buses owned by Go Bus, while 25 per cent were Ritchies and the rest were Black Cat. Go Bus got a greater share of the network in Christchurch during a refresh of contracts in February last year.

In a statement, ECan’s general manager of public transport, Stewart Gibbon, said more information would be available once details were worked through with relevant parties.

ECan’s move to paying a living wage was down to a directive from the Government.

In September, Transport Minister Phil Twyford announced a deal that would see Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency top up pay packages to ensure all urban bus drivers were paid the living wage.

At the time, Twyford called it “a step forward for drivers who for too long have been underpaid for what is an important and demanding job”.

Other regional councils were grappling with the living wage issue.

Last month, Wellington bus drivers voted against a third pay offer from NZ Bus, which would have moved their pay up to the current living wage. The decision to vote against the offer could lead to more strikes.

Staff from Manawatū’s regional council asked councillors earlier this year to pay bus drivers a living wage too.

Meanwhile, both the Hawke's Bay Regional Council and Otago Regional Council had agreed to pay a living wage to their drivers.