BCA notices issue with ability to attract and retain drivers

In New Zealand some recent changes to central government budgets and immigration settings have us worried about our ongoing ability to attract and retain drivers.

After an unprecedented driver shortage in our urban services that drew the ire of the public, we’ve enjoyed relatively stable staffing levels over the last year, assisted by increased wages, (jointly funded by operators, local government and central government), and the addition of drivers to the Immigration Green List, which offered a pathway to residence. 

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These immigration settings were always intended to be a temporary fix, while the sector took a tri-partite approach to improving conditions to make us better able to recruit and retain a locally sourced workforce.

The Government recently announced it had slammed the door on residence for offshore drivers, and then, in a surprise move, Budget 24 sliced funding of $47m allocated to assist with improving conditions to enhance the recruitment and retention of urban drivers.  

Having the band-aid ripped off before the wounds were healed leaves us exposed.

There were different opinions on how that money should be spent, and it’s likely that lack of sector cohesion was a factor in the funding being whipped away. It’s these differing opinions that we as an industry need to better grapple with. We must get better at “agreeing to disagree” and staying focussed on the things we do agree on. 

I sat down with Richard Wagstaff, the President of the Council of Trade Unions for a free and frank conversation. We agree on far more than we disagree on. Yet historically, the unions and industry have, (at least publicly – and that’s what our stakeholders see), been entirely focussed on the points of conflict, and we fail to get meaningful change.

Maybe it’s time to agree that there have been historical examples of unbecoming conduct on both sides of the fence, agree to disagree on who’s at fault, and move forward. Trust takes time, but we’ve made a start. The negotiations for the ill-fated Fair Pay Agreements were conducted in good spirit, respectfully, and with agreement on many points. Boiling this down to a simple statement:  We all want a sustainable workforce, where our people feel safe, respected, supported and fairly paid.  

For urban public transport, the other key group that shares that desired outcome with us is our clients and funders – the public sector. We appear to have the same underlying barriers to collective problem solving:  Trust. It’s very hard to operate without the trust of your clients and stakeholders, and yet evidence would suggest that’s where we are. A case in point is the debacle of a legislative review, known as the “Sustainable Public Transport Framework”. The legislation is anti-private sector – and the first thing the private sector transport providers should ask is, “why did this happen?”  

Some simple operational policy tweaks could have been made to fix the known flaws with the Public Transport Operating Model. So, why was that not the pathway chosen?  Simple: We didn’t enjoy the trust of our stakeholders to deliver services ongoing, so they sought to rebalance the playing field. 

Now I don’t believe for a moment that councils can manage bus/depot assets as effectively as our private sector operators. But it seems some councils don’t share that view. Some are prepared to invest hundreds of millions of dollars to wrestle asset control from the private sector. What would cause them to want to take this risk at a time where they are so tightly pressed financially and where they don’t have the pre-requisite skill set? The only logical answer is that they don’t trust the private sector to deliver services in the best interests of the public.

We can choose to continue to fight (or even sit back passively) from a position of logic, knowing that the private sector is best placed to deliver ongoing services and expecting common sense will prevail. But this is not going to be a battle of logic – it’s going to be one of hearts and minds.  So really, the next question is, what are we going to do about it?

The Bus and Coach Association is about to start the development of an Industry Strategy and these questions are some of the ones that we need to address as we shape a future of sustainable passenger transport for New Zealand.