The TWU will meet with Gold Coast drivers to discuss bus violence, and action against government
February 27, 2013
Queensland’s Transport Workers’ Union (TWU) has launched a scathing attack on the State Government ahead of a meeting with Gold Coast bus drivers tomorrow morning.
The TWU will meet with bus drivers and passengers at the Gold Coast’s Pacific Fair Bus Interchange tomorrow morning to discuss bus violence, and possible action against the state’s Transport Minister Scott Emerson.
In a statement that dubs the Gold Coast the ‘Blood Coast’, Queensland TWU
Assistant State Secretary Scott Connolly says the ‘government does not care about the safety or livelihoods of bus drivers’.
“Clearly bus drivers are second class citizens to this government,” Connolly says.
According to Connolly, drivers were robbed, punched, spat on, hit with skateboards and bottles, and had rocks and metal bars thrown through their windscreens in 2012.
Connolly says the TWU is planning to march with the bus industry against Emerson and the government.
“We have sent letters asking for the minister to sit down with us and have a conversation, but he continues to ignore us and the calls for help from our drivers,” Connolly says.
“So we will take this fight to him.”
The union will meet with drivers at the Pacific Fair Shopping Centre Bus Interchange at 9.30am tomorrow to discuss action.
Bond University announced earlier this week a $100,000 research program to investigate the prevalence
of bus violence on the Gold Coast.