Strike: Friday 25/6

[smitho]

Today's Canberra Times p. 2 refers to TWU ACTION drivers' meeting proposed fpr this coming Friday morning while article on p.3 refers to last Wednesday's ACT Public Transport Forum and the address by public transport guru, Paul Mees, quoting him as saying that the ACT Treasury's estimated cost of an ACT light rail system was excessive.

[belcodriver]

Strike story:

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/bus-drivers-to-stop-work-union-warns/1863555.aspx

[CanberraTransport]

Industrial Action - Friday June 25, 2010

The Transport Workers Union has announced a 24-hour stop-work meeting from 12.01am on Friday, 25 June, 2010. This means ACTION is unfortunately unable to guarantee services will run. ACTION is working to seek continuation of as many services as possible, particularly school bus runs and services between town centres.

Updates will be placed on the ACTION website throughout the week but people should start thinking about making alternative transport plans for Friday. ACTION is committed to a collaborative approach to negotiate the Enterprise Bargaining Agreement for staff. None of the proposed changes are motivated by an intention to reduce pay, hours or jobs. We need to work together to build a business which delivers the best and safest workplace, as well as delivers a range of public transport improvements for the Canberra public.

http://www.action.act.gov.au/industrialaction.html

[p_stampy]

This will not help me get home 

[belcodriver]

This will not help me get home 

Call in sick.

[CNG]

yeah how the hell will I get to work

[Irisbus Rider]

CNG, and all others concerned, anger should not be directed to the drivers in situations like these, as actions like these are very justified in most cases. I, and most others on the board, I'm sure, will give their full support to the drivers, and unions!

[CNG]

yes I give my support to the drivers, it is there job and they are entitled to the right benefits. But I was thinking how I was going to get to work, the drivers have everyright to go ahead and good on them. :)

[Bus 400]

The weird thing in the ABC Online article, is that ACTION has another acting general manager.


But for those wondering how they will get to work/school, well all of you (except p_stampy) have working feet.


But I hope that in the long run everything works out for ACTION drivers & that this EBA isn't a year late.


EDIT-I am unsure if My Roncon is the acting/pernament general manager of ACTION.

[Bus 400]

The garbage from TAMS can be found at http://www.tams.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/194748/MR259_0610_ACTION_strike_action.pdf

[bubzie]

I am not walking to woden.


...and all the carparks in woden fill up early normally. this spells doom.

[Ed]

EDIT-I am unsure if My(sic) Roncon is the acting/pernament(sic) general manager of ACTION.

James Roncon is the current acting general manager of ACTION, Tom Elliot still owns the position.

[p_stampy]

I am not walking to woden.


...and all the carparks in woden fill up early normally. this spells doom.

At a bit after 8 its fine I think - or are you talking about 9-10am?

[CNG]

I think buses will start operating again in the afternoon

[p_stampy]

I think buses will start operating again in the afternoon

Correct me if I am wrong, but:

The Transport Workers Union has announced a 24-hour stop-work meeting from 12.01am on Friday, 25 June, 2010. This means ACTION is unfortunately unable to guarantee services will run. ACTION is working to seek continuation of as many services as possible, particularly school bus runs and services between town centres.

To me, this sounds like the entire 24 hour period will have none to very limited services. It looks to be that school services & intertown (300) buses may be running, if any run at all.

[bubzie]

At a bit after 8 its fine I think - or are you talking about 9-10am?

11-12ish

[Barry Drive]

This is the article from The Canberra Times online. For once(?) a fairly accurate and balanced report.

Bus drivers to stop work, union warns

BY NINO BUCCI
21 Jun, 2010 08:30 AM

The Transport Workers Union has again warned ACTION that bus drivers will walk off the job unless plans to remove part-time worker restrictions are scrapped.

ACT sub-branch secretary Klaus Pinkas fired the latest salvo in the battle over bus driver conditions yesterday, less than one month after the union backed down on a proposed seven-day fare ban.

ACTION acting general manager James Roncon urged the union to stop ''holding the community to ransom'' and return to the negotiating table.

Mr Pinkas said all bus drivers and transport officers would stop services from 7am on Friday morning for an urgent meeting to discuss their course of action. The strike is only planned to last for the duration of the meeting, unless members vote otherwise.

Mr Pinkas said the ACT Government wanted to scrap a condition in the current agreement that capped the percentage of part-time workers at 40 per cent of the total workforce.

''ACTION are still insisting on reducing the amount of full-time workers that drive buses,'' he said.

''The TWU membership have made it loud and clear they will not stand for that, we don't want a part-time workforce.''

He said the ACT Government had stonewalled the seven-month negotiations by preventing the union meeting with its members.

''The buses will be off the road, we've asked ACTION over a number of occasions now to organise a meeting in the middle of the day so it creates as little problem for people as possible, they haven't done that, the only way we can get people together is to actually pull buses off the road,'' he said.

Mr Roncon said ACTION had no intention of cutting full-time staff or shift numbers, but the contentious condition made expansion difficult.

Good progress had been made in negotiations, despite the union only providing ACTION with its full log of claims on June 16.

[smitho]

More on ACTION drivers' meeting and union positions within the driver workforce.....from today's CT (on page 1, with pic)

ACTION paying unionists as strike looms
NOEL TOWELL
22 Jun, 2010 08:30 AM
ACT taxpayers are paying a small group of ACTION bus drivers more than $200,000 a year just to conduct trade union activities.

The deal, which has been in place ''forever'', was revealed yesterday as the bus operators' 600 drivers prepare to strike on Friday morning, leaving commuters in the dark over whether buses will run at all that day.

According to ACTION management, the four union delegates two each at the Tuggeranong and Belconnen bus depots spend two hours of each working day driving, and the remaining 7.5 hours on union activities on their full rate of pay of $29.60 per hour with the government-owned bus operator picking up the $214,000 annual bill.

ACTION management and the TWU both confirmed yesterday that the arrangement had been in place for as long as anyone could remember although the union disputes that the delegates only drive two hours a day with ACTION looking to renegotiate the deal during the current vexed round of enterprise bargaining talks.

The drivers' union says buses will not run on Friday morning and its members will meet at 7am and vote on whether to go back to work or to continue with the 24-hour action that has been sanctioned by the industrial umpire, Fair Work Australia.

Management is trying to recruit drivers to continue to operate services as planned on Friday, arguing that only 40 per cent of drivers voted to support the strike.

ACTION general manager James Roncon said yesterday that the issue of the delegates, which had been around ''forever'', had been brought into play when the union sought to have it officially recognised in the new enterprise agreement and that management wanted changes.

Mr Roncon said ACTION was effectively paying the 3.6 full-time staff to organise workers against their employer.

''ACTION is one of the few businesses you'd come across that pays people to actively work against it,'' Mr Roncon said yesterday.

''We just want an agreement that reflects the times we live in and that's the 21st century.'' -

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/action-paying-unionists-as-strike-looms/1864620.aspx

[smitho]

There is supposed to be some sort of arbitration meeting on today, I guess to try and head-off the proposed stop-work meeting and possible strike.

[Bus 400]

On the radio ad today, there is hint of no weekend bus services.

There is supposed to be some sort of arbitration meeting on today, I guess to try and head-off the proposed stop-work meeting and possible strike.

By the looks of it, the arbitration meeting didn't go too far (http://www.tams.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/195173/MR265_0610_ACTION_strike_action.pdf)

[Barry Drive]

The TWU is prepared to undertake industrial action without providing surety and timeframes to ACTION and the Canberra community.  This uncertainty makes it impossible for ACTION to plan for services on Friday unless the TWU calls a halt to the work stoppage.

So instead, management ensures that it will be a 24 hour strike by refusing to pay drivers if they were to return to work after the stop work meeting!

[p_stampy]

Call in sick.

Done!

Actually I have to get a bone scan tomorrow, so work told me to take the day off.

[belcodriver]

It's a lockout now. I hope they're not going to pull the Patricks Stevedores trick on us.

[Buzz Killington]

Noticed some signs stuck up at the bus stops tonight when I got home, will have to check those out tomorrow.

[p_stampy]

good luck today :)

[Bus 400]

Have spotted a few bus stops today. Thing that surprised me was no supervisor at Woden Interchange. Also Gungahlin Drive & Haydon Drive were just on empty this morning.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[belcodriver]

Supervisors are locked out as well.

[Irisbus Rider]

I did see an ACTION Rosa on Mouat St earlier today. Are the SNT buses not considered part of 'ACTION'?

[Buzz Killington]

I saw an SNT Hino out and about this arvo too.

[belcodriver]

SNT drivers and attendants aren't on our agreement.

[Bus 400]

This was in the brochure holder on a bus today.