Because their pay is shit. The base rate for an Auckland bus driver is $12.57 an hour, increasing to $13.94 after serving a probationary period. By comparisom, you can walk in off the street with no previous retail experience and get $14.50 an hour in the Warehouse - and not have to put up with a 3 hour "standdown" in the middle of the day.
The bus drivers are pushing for $16.50 an hour. The fact that they're willing to sacrifice a week's pay shows that they're fairly serious about getting it...
10 comments:
with all due respect, $16.50 is a ridiculous sum to be demanding for the simple and relatively unskilled job of driving a bus. Hell if they get that I'll be looking for a 30% payrise too...shame I can't hold an entire city to ransom to get my way though.
Posted by Michael : 5/05/2005 10:04:00 AM
Did you know that the Souter/Gloag family, who own Stagecoach, spend their ill-gotten gains on extreme right-wing political campaigning in Scotland? For instance, they funded a homophobic "referendum" (see http://www.scottishmediamonitor.com/features2.cfm?ID=19)
I personally think that any company that provides an essential public service should be obliged to ensure continuity of service - and should lose its rights to provide service if it fails to do so.
Posted by Rich : 5/05/2005 10:21:00 AM
With all due respect Michael, $12.57 and $13.94 an hour is a rediculous hourly wage to be expected to survive on - especially in Auckland. As for "simple and relatively unskilled", what exactly do you mean? How much skill does it take to negotiate a huge metal box through densely packed streets and highways in rush hour, while dealing with fractious passengers? Loads, I would've thought, not to mention the stress. Would it be more than a ship's captain? More than an airline pilot? I'd like to accurately compare the relative skills and stress of all jobs. Be interesting to see exactly why a top-flight CEO earns my wage many times over.
Perhaps we shouldn't blame drivers for disrupting a city, after all they only want a fair wage for day's work. Maybe it's the company that has driven them to this action we should be bagging.
Posted by Anonymous : 5/05/2005 02:56:00 PM
Go the Tramways Union. Some of their drivers are shocking (not too many but enough that you notice. The job is tough and worth a lot more than they are on now - maybe that's why some of them are angry.
The biggest supporters of this strike will always be the taxi drivers.
Posted by Bomber : 5/05/2005 03:17:00 PM
We have an ex stagecoach bus driver working with us now. He is earning about what he did bus driving, but with less stress. It was the passengers that got to him. I wouldn't do it for $20 an hour. To say that bus driving is unskilled is just daft.
Posted by Dodderyoldfart : 5/05/2005 06:19:00 PM
> With all due respect Michael, $12.57 and $13.94 an hour is a rediculous hourly wage to be expected to survive on - especially in Auckland.
In which case you seem to be suggesting a auckland specific minimum wage. Meanwhile others are suggesting that the Bus drivers are asking to get paid more than for example chefs who also face "stand downs" (if I understand it correctly). So you both have a point.
>Be interesting to see exactly why a top-flight CEO earns my wage many times over.
If the market is working properly (which it often but not always does)They earn more because they create more value. for example a person skilled at organizing people in a large company may create millions of dollars worth of value while you might do work that might be stressful but where if you just stop turning up for work one day no one will miss you. (I dont know).
Havind said that Ill be even handed again. I would not want to be a bus driver because I hate stupid customers (as opposed to normal ones with half a brain) and you probably get a bus load of them in the public transport industry.
Posted by Anonymous : 5/05/2005 07:10:00 PM
Plenty of people in Auckland earn far less than that...perhaps they'd leap at the opportunity to become bus drivers if the ones who are complaining chucked it in.
Ultimately, the measure of how much someone is worth paying isn't how stressful their job is its how easily you can replace their skills and experience and how much value they create for their employer.
As for dealing with the public, that comes down to personality...if you can't do it you probably shouldn't be driving a bus anyway.
In some ways you could say "good on them for trying", employers are happy to drive real wages down in times of high unemployment, now the boot is on the other foot...perhaps I'm underpaid and my union are a bunch of softcocks for only going for 5%
Posted by Michael : 5/05/2005 08:59:00 PM
I've spoken to many bus drivers & discovered that they spend up to 5 hours without a toilet break, I dont know about you but when I'm on a packed bus in rush hour I'd feel alot better if the driver was'nt busting for a pee. It is a potentially dangerous job with peoples lives in their hands, like they say if you pay peanuts you get monkeys & I'd rather not be driven around by a monkey!
Posted by Anonymous : 5/06/2005 06:08:00 AM
So, "the pay is shit" for Stagecoach drivers. Perhaps I'd feel a little more sympathy if the service wasn't so shitty — including the driver I reported for barking at a passenger that she needed to (and this is a direct quote) "learn to speak fucking English." That was two weeks ago, and so far no response from Stagecoach.
Posted by Anonymous : 5/06/2005 08:16:00 AM
I agree with both sentiments here- While I’m very surprised bus drivers are only getting that small amount, they do themselves very little favours. Getting a friendly or polite driver is the exception not the norm. We have stagecoach in Wellington to, their drivers are often surly and rude, and when you complain to Stagecoach, they do shit all. The following is part of a letter my partner sent to Stagecoach after an incident.
I alighted the Seatoun 11 bus at about 4:30 pm from outside Kirkcaldie and Stains and paid my fare for two sections. I intended to go on to Taranaki Street. This bus unfortunately broke down on the bottom of Willis St outside of the Old Bank Arcade. The problem could not be solved and soon enough the Number 30 Breaker Bay bus pulled up beside our bus. The driver got on our bus and announced anyone going to Seatoun could get on his bus. I knew that the Breaker Bay route did not go up Taranaki Street but I knew it went past Courtney Place where I would get off and walk up to Taranaki Street.
I pressed the bell just before the Taranaki Street intersection, so I could get off outside Midnight Espresso, and went to the backdoor. The bus pulled over at this stop to let people on but did not open its backdoor. Just as the bus started to pull out, I called out to the bus driver, “Backdoor Please”, but the driver kept on driving. So then I called out again, “Excuse me I need to get off”, and the bus driver replied, “You cant get off—You got on the wrong bus.” I then replied “Are you crazy? I need to get off” and he said “No this is an express”. The bus was in motion the whole time this conversation took place from the backdoor of the bus. The driver drove past the next stop, until finally he stopped at the last stop on Courtney place to pick up some more passengers from there. I took this opportunity to quickly get off through the front door as other passengers were alighting as he still would not open the backdoor.
This behaviour is completely unacceptable. My usual bus had broken down and I was completely unaware that the Breaker Bay bus was an express. This was not explained by the driver when he told us we could get on his bus when ours had broken down. Therefore it was not my fault that I was ignorant of the bus classification. Generally the public does not have an in-depth knowledge of every bus route in the city, nor should they be expected to do so! In the confusion and frustration of my bus breaking down, I did not think this would be a factor.
Therefore I put the driver solely at blame. What type of psychopathic bus drivers are Stagecoach employing that they will not let their customers off the bus! I am glad this did not happen to some recent non English speaking migrant or child, because judging from the despicable behaviour of this bus driver they would be now walking home from Breaker Bay!
Pete
Posted by Anonymous : 5/06/2005 02:50:00 PM
Post a Comment
(Anonymous comments are enabled).