Tasmanian bus drivers will strike during school holidays this week, with the union warning of bigger disruptions once term resumes if a pay deal is not reached.
Kinetic bus drivers will walk off the job for two hours from 7am to 9am on Thursday, April 23, in the first stoppage of a pay dispute that has been running since November.
The Transport Workers’ Union (TWU) said it has deliberately scheduled the action while students are on holidays to avoid leaving kids stranded at bus stops.
TWU director of organising Sam Lynch said drivers would escalate quickly if Kinetic and the state government did not return to the negotiating table.
“Strike action is a last resort, which is why we have planned this stoppage during school holidays,” Lynch said.
“Drivers have been pushed to their limits for far too long.”
The union has flagged the possibility of longer stoppages once term two begins.
Lynch said drivers were prepared to pull off the roads for full days if talks remained stalled.
“If Kinetic and Premier Rockliff don’t want to come to the table, then workers have no choice but to escalate the severity of disruptions,” he said.
“This could include 24-hour work stoppages which will leave students stranded.”
Lynch said Kinetic drivers earn up to $250 a week less than drivers at publicly-owned Metro for doing the same work.
He said this is despite Kinetic running hundreds of intercity, charter and school bus routes across the state.
“We want to see that gap gone completely,” Lynch said.
More than 95% of TWU members voted to endorse industrial action.
The workforce rejected Kinetic’s most recent offer last month because it did not close the wage gap with Metro.
Lynch called on the premier to intervene before the school resumes.
“If the premier is serious about preventing service disruptions, then he will listen to workers’ concerns and come to the table,” he said.
Kinetic says no bus services will be affected by the industrial action, with all routes to “operate as normal across Tasmania”.
“Kinetic is committed to providing a leading working environment for our drivers,” Kinetic’s Tasmanian executive general manager Graham Smith said.
“We continue to invest in driver amenities, training and development and programs that bring more women and underrepresented groups into the industry with over $10 million invested so far and 30% of our drivers being female.”
“Our drivers are at the heart of what we do and negotiations with the TWU are ongoing.”
