Bus drivers threaten Christmas campaign

UP TO 3000 private bus drivers are set to take part in a prolonged statewide strike in the lead-up to Christmas, stranding tens of thousands of western Sydney commuters and shoppers.

In a dramatic escalation of a long-running industrial dispute, the union representing the state's four largest private bus companies - Veolia, Busways, Premier Illawarra and Comfort Delgro Cabcharge - yesterday gained permission from Fair Work Australia to conduct a vote on industrial action among drivers.

It paves the way for a strike within three weeks that would affect a large proportion of the 300,000 passengers - including many schoolchildren - who use the services every day.


This includes thousands of Westbus and Hillsbus passengers who have no other public transport options.

''Drivers will continue to fight until we get a fair deal - it could be weeks, it could be months,'' a Transport Workers Union official, Michael Aird, said. ''We have been negotiating since April, but there doesn't appear to be any agreement.''

The drivers are demanding a 4 per cent rise each year for three years, and enhanced self-defence and occupational health and safety training.

The drivers are also angry about a lack of basic facilities such as toilets and eating areas when they are between runs.

Unlike their state government counterparts who are returned to their depots between trips, private bus drivers are often left in sheds without toilet facilities.

But the association representing the private bus operators, Bus NSW, denied drivers were not getting a fair go. Its executive director, Darryl Melish, said the operators' hands were tied because the vast majority of their revenue came from state contracts, which included a finite amount for wages, training and facilities.

The average wage in Australia in 1990 was $28,000 pa....

As a bus driver in 1990, I earned $32,500pa...

Of course they will, the next to take action will be the brewery workers...

It happens every christmas...

No considering I travel nearly everywhere by my car.

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Hope your car breaks down and the mechanic union goes on strike or something.

But then again, where do you have to go anyway?