Many Sydney bus services won’t be running today as the TWU confirms a bus driver strike against Transit Systems
The Transport Workers Union (TWU) and Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) have jointly confirmed that bus drivers in Sydney will be taking protected industrial action today.
The unions say the strike is in response to a safety crisis to do with private bus operator Transit Systems.
The action means bus services in contract region six, which includes the inner west, some of Sydney’s CBD, Olympic Park, Strathfield and Rockdale, will be cancelled in peak times.
Strikes mean buses in those regions will be off the road from 4AM to 7AM and then again from 2.30PM to 5.30PM.
Both the TWU and RTBU are calling for the New South Wales government to address serious concerns following a string of deaths in recent years involving both drivers and passengers.
The unions say this safety crisis is being caused by dangerous standards and conditions that have heightened pressures on bus drivers, as they say that low pay rates and poor conditions have forced drivers to become dependent on excessive overtime to support their families, meaning they push the limits of safety and fatigue.
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A recent TWU survey of Transit Systems’ drivers found that more than 79 per cent of them reported that safety for drivers and passengers has deteriorated, with some drivers complaining of pressures arising from long hours, unrealistic running times and timetable pressures amidst reduced breaks and recovery times.
For more than a year, drivers have been calling on Transit Systems and the NSW government to resolve the issue by improving standards and conditions.
The TWU says the government has allowed private operators like Transit Systems to undermine standards leading to the current safety crisis through its competitive tendering of bus contracts in recent years.
“Workers regret having to take this action but this is about the most fundamental issue for drivers – their safety and that of their passengers,” TWU state secretary Richard Olsen says.
RTBU bus and tram division secretary David Babineau says: “Same job, same pay have been at the cornerstone of our negotiations, yet Transit Systems are continuing to undermine claims that are critical to ensuring this.”
“By botching the privatisation of Sydney’s buses, they’ve left workers under unfair and unsustainable conditions. This can’t continue.”