Greater Wellington and Metlink have welcomed news from today’s Tramways Union stop work meeting that a new collective
agreement with NZ Bus has been reached after months of tense negotiations.
Daran Ponter, chair of Greater Wellington said the vote was good news for the public transport industry.
“We’ve been very vocal as a council that public transport across the country needs its profile raising to attract new
drivers. We’ve put forward our thoughts to Government on the review PTOM, fair pay agreements and putting drivers on the
skills shortage list. We’ve also been working with the Government, operators and unions to put the Living Wage on the
table, boosting base rates for around 50% of all drivers across all operators,” says Cr Ponter.
Roger Blakeley, Chair of Greater Wellington’s Transport Committee said the outcome was a win for drivers and the
communities they serve.
“The public have been very vocal on this issue, wanting a fair outcome for drivers, so it's great to see the hard work
and commitment of all parties coming to a good resolution. We worked closely with the Council of Trade Unions, the
Tramways Union and NZ Bus to provide successful independent facilitation to get negotiations back on track so it’s
fantastic to see such a positive outcome,” says Cr Blakeley.
Metlink General Manager, Scott Gallacher, also welcomed the news which means the region’s public transport provider can
bring further certainly to passengers across the network.
“We’ll be working closely with the Tramways Union and NZ Bus to draw up new timetables to reflect some of the real wins
for drivers in this new agreement. One of the most positive outcomes will be guaranteed 8-hour shifts on request, making
work and home life easier to manage for drivers. This will mean a rethink for our NZ Bus timetables, which also gives us
the opportunity to match current driver availability,” says Mr Gallacher.
With the vast majority of services running smoothly across the region, the timetable redesign will focus predominantly
on Wellington City services.
“We’ll be looking to get agreement on a set of timetable changes that will better match staffing numbers to ultimately
create a more flexible and reliable network,” adds Mr Gallacher.
Metlink aims to have new timetables for NZ Bus routes in place in the coming months and will keep passengers up to date
with the network through the Metlink app and the Metlink website.