Delay in paying living wage ‘unacceptable’

Campaigning for a living wage for Dunedin and Queenstown bus drivers is New Zealand Tramways...
Campaigning for a living wage for Dunedin and Queenstown bus drivers is New Zealand Tramways Union Dunedin workplace delegate Alan Savell, who drives for the Otago Regional Council’s Orbus service. PHOTO: PETER MCINTOSH
Bus drivers are calling on the Otago Regional Council to "put their money where their mouth is" as they wait for a wage increase they were promised last year.

A commitment to provide funding to pay Orbus drivers in Dunedin and Queenstown the living wage of $22.10 an hour by July 1, 2020 was made by the regional council when it approved funding for it in its 2020-21 annual plan in June last year.

It was backed up by central government when the NZ Transport Agency later agreed to progressively implement a living wage as a minimum base rate for bus drivers nationally.

The news was a positive result for the New Zealand Tramways Union and First Union following two years of campaigns.

The Otago Regional Council this week said it still intended to introduce the living wage, but was waiting until a contract was re-tendered and awarded with a living wage component before it negotiated with operators of its other existing contracts to also include the living wage.

Tramways Union Dunedin workplace delegate Alan Savell said most southern bus drivers were still paid the $20 minimum wage or "barely" above it, let alone about the living wage of $22.10 per hour.

"We still have no idea whether NZTA will fund its share of a wage increase. . . and whether there will be any provision for back-dating [pay to July 1, 2020]."

Union members are set to protest the perceived inaction in Dunedin today.

Regional council transport manager Garry Maloney said having one contract including a living wage would enable the council to require it as a condition when other contracts were re-tendered. When asked why the council could not simply renegotiate existing contracts, Mr Maloney said that was a commercial matter for the council to work through with its operators.

The date living wages would be effective from would also be part of negotiations, he said.

A transport agency spokeswoman confirmed it was committed to funding its share of bus services, but said the time it took to bring in a new wage floor was dependent on councils making agreements with bus operators and having the ability to fund their share.

The agency was working with councils, operators and union representatives to quantify the number of drivers being paid below $22.10 an hour and to agree a process to implement increases for them, she said.

Unhappy union members will protest outside the Dunedin office of the transport agency this morning.

Mr Savell said the April 1 date was a nod to bus drivers working in Dunedin and Queenstown feeling they were being taken for "April fools".

Public transport was at the heart of the Government’s climate change strategy, but the people who made it possible were still being paid a "pittance", he said.

"The delay in paying the living wage is unacceptable.

"Bus drivers, our families, and our communities need wages that are liveable.

"Drivers, unions and the wider union movement are calling on the Otago Regional Council and NZ Transport Agency to put their money where their mouth is and pay bus-drivers at least the living wage."

molly.houseman@odt.co.nz


 

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