Bus unions back in talks

The four unions which have been at loggerheads in recent days over the long-running Auckland bus drivers pay dispute have patched up their differences and agreed to go back into negotiations as one.

Splits within the unions, which make up the Auckland Combined Bus Unions, emerged after their members last week rejected a new employment agreement offered by New Zealand Bus, owned by Infratil.

In doing so, they went against their negotiators' recommendation to accept the offer, which includes a pay increase from $16.75 to $18.75 an hour over three years.

The Northern Distribution Union (NDU), which represents about 30 of the drivers and cleaners, subsequently voted to withdraw from the combined unions and approach NZ Bus to sign the deal.

This upset the Tramways Union, which represents more than 600 of the employees, which described the NDU's move as "appalling protocol".

The four unions met to discuss their split today, and Tramways Union president Gary Froggatt said they agreed to move forward together.

"We've reconvened the Combined Bus Unions for the purpose of reaching an agreement with Infratil," Mr Froggatt told NZPA.

"We are requesting the mediator to work between the parties."

Mr Froggatt said the disagreements between the unions had been "unfortunate", but that the mood of the meeting was "okay" today.

"They explained their position and we laid down our situation and it was agreed that we should reconvene the combined bus union group."

At a ratification meeting last Wednesday, union members voted down the company's offer by 55 percent against to 45 percent for, when it needed a 60 percent vote in favour to be accepted.

The union negotiators had recommended the bus drivers accept NZ Bus' previous offer.

Mr Froggatt said the main sticking point for the drivers who rejected the NZ Bus offer was changes to two clauses the company wanted, rather than the pay offer, "even though there's a lot of unhappiness about the money and the term of the agreement".

One was the incapacity clause, where the employer had the right to review and possibly to terminate employment for long-term sickness at three months.

NZ Bus wanted the period cut to two months.

The second was a disciplinary clause, where a complaint from the public had to be given to the driver with 48 hours of receipt. The company wanted to extend that to 96 hours due to what Mr Froggatt described as "some problems with its internal processes".

Mr Froggatt said he couldn't pre-empt what drivers would do if the company came back with its current offer minus the two amended clauses.

But he did say that if a proposal along those lines had been put to last week's meeting, "I think the outcome would have been entirely different".

Mr Froggatt said it was unlikely there would be face-to-face talks between unions and NZ Bus in the immediate future while the unions tried to go through the mediator.

NZ Bus and the unions, which represent most of the bus drivers and cleaners in the Auckland region, have been in negotiations since May.

The employees concerned work for the Metrolink, Go West, Waka Pacific, North Star, Link and City Circuit bus services.

The impasse in the talks led to widespread disruption to services for several days last month when NZ Bus locked out the drivers after they said they would work strictly to the rulebook.