Auckland seems about to get hit by another Stagecoach bus strike, this time a six-day industrial action. It'll apparently affect different runs over each of the six days for minimum disruption but maximum impact on the bus company.

Go them. Maybe this will finally get their wages sorted, in my opinion. What do you guys think?

I hate the impact it has on those affected but they must be desparate to take such an extreme measure - remembering that while on strike the drivers don't get paid.

I had thought the new laws empowered unions to go into companies, assess their financial situtation and determine if a pay rise would affect the financial viability of the company deterimentally? I know this happened with the recent printers' strike - and some companies were actually exempted from having to give pay rises (and therefore not subject to strike action) at this stage as it would have resulted in redundancies and possible closure.

So the assumption is that Stagecoach can afford to do this? For I don't see any doubt that the drivers deserve it.

If what you're saying is true then I don't see how they could possibly justify withholding the raise. Stagecoach is an international corporation, and its operation in NZ is very small compared to those in its home country the United Kingdom. I doubt it'd be too expensive for the company - or even its local subsidiary - to pay their drivers a bit more. Stop giving drivers the runaround and just pay them already, and we can get things back to normal!

I'm a daily bus user and it really inconveniences me when strikes are on, but on the whole I can plan ahead and cope with it. I'm going to dust off my old pushbike when the next lot of strikes arrive. My dad already cycles to work daily, from Point Chevalier to Auckland Hospital in Grafton, rather than wait for buses. It's doing him a lot of good healthwise and financially, so it wouldn't hurt to follow suit I guess.

I heard theyre next plan of action is to screw the company by refusing to take money for rides.

Im all for that option :clap:

Hey! If they do that, why don't we just pay some of our normal fare money straight into the driver's pockets? We're being overcharged for fares already. I love civil disobedience.

Well hang on, when I buy my monthly pass, if I can't use it for six days, do I pay 25% less?

hell yes!!!!!!

thats exactly the thing I had in mind. It will be interesting to see how they resolve this coz certainly I dont wanna pay for somethng I dont get to use.

Well its of bugger all use to me if they don't take money from me, I've got a monthly pass and I pay up-front.

What I think we should be doing is boycotting the monthly and uni-rider passes in favor of concession and ten ride passes. The only reason I get a monthly pass is so I dont have to stand in a 40 person que.

Is anyone with me on this? Would anyone care if people boycotted monthly passes? I'm not gonna pay $81 for something I cant use for a week.

Let me clarify. It's NOT no Stagecoach buses for six days straight. They'll cancel some routes one day, other routes the next, and so on - it's called a rolling strike (no pun intended). So it'll only affect you as a bus passenger for a day at most, and boycotting the monthly passes will make no difference to the negotiations at all.

If they aren't fully providing the service that I've already paid to use, then as far as I'm concerned, I'm losing out.

Boycotting monthly cards? why the hell not. If you cant use them when you've paid to use em, why buy em.

Stagecoach may be kind enough to refund you for lost travel on your card, but they'd probably dismiss it as an 'unforeseen circumstance outside of our control'. Which isn't strictly true once you examine the pay drivers get, but they didn't choose to strike. Boycott by all means, but I doubt it'd make much difference.

Just thinking - maybe Stagecoach should introduce a 30-day unlimited travel pass, instead of a monthly pass, so you always get exactly 30 days of travel on your pass. Each day you use the pass at all, another day is subtracted - don't use it, and the days remain the same. Don't know how feasible that would be but I'd like it.

What is really inconvenient about thsi stagecoach strike is firstly the superficial thing being the fact that it is weather, nobody wants to be sweaty when they go to university.

I would agree with boycotting and the bus drivers not taking money. If people are on their side then how about the public start protesting up and down queen street, I mean surely if the public want them to get pay increases then they should.

Having said that, we are all blaming stagecoach but stagecoach are subsidised through the ARC, maybe the ARC arent giving them enough money, we can't just blame stagecoach.

But yes, as inflation increases yearly so should wages otherwise you are getting paid less.

Wait a second! I thought you were anti-union/anti-bus strikes etc. What happened? You're not a robotic copy of Liz Shaw sent back here by the Cylons, are you? If you are, they're doing a bad job. (See Battlestar Galactica thread for an explanation)

I'm undecided on the issue now to be honest, I dunno, every so often I lose that very opinionated nature and back down a bit (usually after defamation and derogatory comments that are not true).

Returning to this topic, I'm just saying that if the bus drivers truly want to prove their case then they should rally with the Auckland public. Its much harder to fight on your own than it is to fight with 20,000 people (just a random number picked out of the sky). Its what I'd do to put y case across, or I would use the law, you can't argue with the law.

Currently the bus drivers are receiving well above the minimum wage.

The Employment Relations Act 2000 states:

*An employer may employ another person to perform the work of a striking or locked out employee if the person Stagecoach have not done this, which they should have done.

* (The court can endevour) to stop a strike or lockout that is occurring or to prevent a threatened strike or lockout They have not done so, it mustn't be that serious yet.

Under this act, there is no mention of the business being required by law to pay the workers a higher amount. That is just hear say based on this Act. Therefore, the workers are acting out of line, so too is the employer.

There is no right or wrong, they have to work it out on their own.

I don't think it was ever claimed that the drivers should be paid more as required by law. Not sure either where Stagecoach would get all the non-union drivers to do the normal routes, since most of their drivers are unionised. We'll just have to see what happens I guess, but I support the drivers wholeheartedly.

They don't have a legal leg to stand on though, stagecoach, by law don't have to pay them more money, thats the thing that I am getting at.

therefore what can ya do, lets talk about the miners strikes.

They'd be fools not to though, and that is what industrial action is meant to do.

Miners' strikes? :huh:

Actually the ARC has decided to not provide the proportion of funding that Stagecoach would get if the busses did run. For instance, if they don't run 1 day, they get 1/365th less of their funding (not correct, but you get the idea.)

The ARC are now putting the grease on stagecoach to get this sorted.

http://www.nzcic.org.nz/twenty_questions.htm

Do I have to supply company information if the union demands it during negotiations?
Yes, the union and you can both seek information to back up claims and responses. The requests must be in writing and if you think the information is too sensitive to table, you can give it to a mutually acceptable third party to decide whether it should be revealed.

IIRIC Monthly pass is unlimited use pass for 30 days already, 3 stages. I have personally used it 4+ times a day, this was 2 years ago though.

The different Bus companies bid on the routes offered by ARC. who ever is the cheapest , wins. Makes sence.

I meant that if you didn't use the bus for a day that day would remain on your card.

So I buy a card on September 1st, and with a normal monthly pass it should expire on October 1st, 30 days later. Right? What if there was a pass that allowed me to not catch the bus for a couple of days - and then I'd be good until October 3rd? And so on.

ahh i catch your drift. The pass only initiates the billing days when you first use it after topping up. E.g. You top it on Friday, dont use it till Monday and you get those 2 days.

But yes, having the pass-time not used counted as charged sucks.

Yep, bit off when they put the prices up at the beginnning of march.