It’s not just the bus conditions

It’s not just the bus conditions, drivers are peeing in buckets

The plight of bus drivers in the Waikato region has only worsened since they began raising serious concerns with Go Bus at the beginning of the year. The 120 drivers from Hamilton, Otorohanga, and Te Awamutu are severely underpaid, drive old buses which cause a raft of health and safety issues (see previous releases on duct-taped steering wheels), and now drivers from two depots have been crammed into one partially-built depot with buckets instead of toilets in the female bathrooms (see picture attached).

FIRST Union’s Jax Oldham says there are around 100 drivers operating out of the one depot with just two toilets to share.

“It’s disgusting, they have buckets for toilets in the ladies bathroom; at what point did they decide it was okay to provide buckets as toilets for these drivers? To be honest it just shows how much Go Bus cares about its drivers ...not enough to purchase an adequate amount of toilets. They continue to be treated inhumanely.”

Ms Oldham says she’s concerned for the health and safety of drivers.
“We are told the building has no fire safety procedures and no health and safety inductions have been done with drivers.”

She adds the entire working environment of drivers in the Waikato is unacceptable.
“The pay issue is one thing; many of these drivers are older drivers so have a huge amount of experience behind them but are still on minimal rates, but the work conditions are a completely different mess; they sit in broken seats that inhibit their posture, sit in freezing conditions due to broken doors and air-con units, and when they complain they’re told it will be fixed soon but remain broken.”

ENDS

© Scoop Media