The decision by the Employment Relations Authority that the definition of “work period” is the time between a driver
starting and finishing their work regardless of split shifts or other arrangements over this period has been welcomed by
the Wellington Tramways Union.
The decision overrules current practice at Wellington’s Tranzurban passenger bus companies (both fully owned by Tranzit
NZ) and has significant implications for drivers’ break entitlements at the company and throughout the industry.
Union Secretary Kevin O’Sullivan says he is pleased with the decision. “It’s bad enough that these split shifts create
long and fatiguing workdays for drivers throughout the industry but taking away break entitlements compounds that
fatigue.
“We’re very pleased that commonsense has prevailed, if splitting shifts were allowed to eliminate break entitlements it
would have opened the door to multiple splits removing all breaks.
“This confirmation of the law will go some way to making drivers’ workload more manageable and will curb some of the
poor behaviour we’ve seen throughout the industry.”