NZ Bus - Disputes & Legal
NZ Bus Update 14 December 2020
On Friday 11th December we met with Jay (Chief Operating Officer) & Brendan (General Manager Wellington) in mediation.
The mediation was initially set down to discuss the Company’s breach of our collective agreement in relation to the two most recent reschedules which failed to maximise full time shifts and paid part time hours (9.1 (p) ), failed to provide an equitable distribution of weekend work in the rosters (9.1 (q) and breached good faith behaviour by failing to supply the school holiday shifts at the time.
Failure to supply the school holiday shifts at the time of the reschedule has resulted in more time wasting trying to organise the school holiday duties around members hours of work, with likely significant impacts on the service as members cannot have their school term hours of work altered unless by agreement. Members caught up in this fiasco should raise any issues with the counter staff as soon as possible.
As will be seen from the attached Memorandum of Understanding agreed in mediation on Friday, some considerable time was spent discussing our collective agreement negotiations. It has been agreed that the parties will engage in an interest based bargaining process which has been developed and been very successfully used in the United States of America Employment Service. Additionally a mediator will be present at our negotiations from the beginning (rather than coming in when problems arise) and the Tramways Union and the Company will approach Greater Wellington Regional Council and the New Zealand Transport Agency to invite those organisations to the collective agreement negotiations so they can spell out to the parties how the proposal to introduce the living wage as our base rate of pay will proceed.
With that in mind Richard Wagstaff President of the Council of Trade Unions has set up a meeting for us with Michael Woods, Minister of Transport & Workplace Relations early in 2021 and on the 21st & 22nd January we will be meeting again in mediation to begin the Interest Based Bargaining process. These are essentially training days as the process has not been used with the Tramways Union or NZ Bus before. Negotiations proper will then commence on February 4th being set aside to resolve the matter of forced annual leave and the following further dates have been set aside – 22nd and 23rd February and 09th March to continue the negotiations.
Should matters remain unresolved at that time we have four days set aside in April for a hearing in the Employment Relations Authority.
The mediation was initially set down to discuss the Company’s breach of our collective agreement in relation to the two most recent reschedules which failed to maximise full time shifts and paid part time hours (9.1 (p) ), failed to provide an equitable distribution of weekend work in the rosters (9.1 (q) and breached good faith behaviour by failing to supply the school holiday shifts at the time.
Failure to supply the school holiday shifts at the time of the reschedule has resulted in more time wasting trying to organise the school holiday duties around members hours of work, with likely significant impacts on the service as members cannot have their school term hours of work altered unless by agreement. Members caught up in this fiasco should raise any issues with the counter staff as soon as possible.
As will be seen from the attached Memorandum of Understanding agreed in mediation on Friday, some considerable time was spent discussing our collective agreement negotiations. It has been agreed that the parties will engage in an interest based bargaining process which has been developed and been very successfully used in the United States of America Employment Service. Additionally a mediator will be present at our negotiations from the beginning (rather than coming in when problems arise) and the Tramways Union and the Company will approach Greater Wellington Regional Council and the New Zealand Transport Agency to invite those organisations to the collective agreement negotiations so they can spell out to the parties how the proposal to introduce the living wage as our base rate of pay will proceed.
With that in mind Richard Wagstaff President of the Council of Trade Unions has set up a meeting for us with Michael Woods, Minister of Transport & Workplace Relations early in 2021 and on the 21st & 22nd January we will be meeting again in mediation to begin the Interest Based Bargaining process. These are essentially training days as the process has not been used with the Tramways Union or NZ Bus before. Negotiations proper will then commence on February 4th being set aside to resolve the matter of forced annual leave and the following further dates have been set aside – 22nd and 23rd February and 09th March to continue the negotiations.
Should matters remain unresolved at that time we have four days set aside in April for a hearing in the Employment Relations Authority.
Legal Action Update - 2 December 2020
TIM, Telematics & Kiosks
We are awaiting a determination from the Employment Relations Authority on our claim for disregard of our collective agreement when TIM (Transport Information Management Systems) was introduced in October without consultation. In the interim members are reminded not to use the kiosks for signing on and off using your unique identifier (drivers licence). Incidentally it has been suggested that our failure to use the kiosks for signing on and off is the reason there are so many payroll issues. This is simply not the case. The constant payroll issues are unrelated to how you sign on or off. The same issues are occurring in the workshops where members sign on with their staff number. The fact is that TIM has to date been proved to be unfit for purpose.
October Reschedule Rosters & Shifts
The implementation of the October reschedule went ahead despite the Tramways Union claim of breach of our Collective Agreement. The Company failed to act in good faith, did not maximise full time shifts, failed to ensure the equitable distribution of weekend work in the roster and did not produce the school holiday shifts in the required timeframe. This resulted in yet another application being lodged in the Employment Relations Authority on 28th September. The Authority has referred that matter to mediation which has been set down for Friday 11th December
Breaches of Collective Agreement and Failure To Act In Good Faith
In June the Tramways Union lodged an application in the Employment Relations Authority for sustained and ongoing breaches of our Collective Employment Agreements. At least twenty breaches have been alleged with penalties of $400,000.00 sought. The alleged breaches include forced annual leave (which is still occurring), breaches of mediated settlements and breaches of the Employment Relations Act regarding obligations in relation to good faith behaviour.
Mediation was unsuccessful. On Monday 7 December a conference call between the parties will schedule a timetable for our application to be heard in the Authority.
Airport Flyer
The Airport Flyer Service has ceased from last Friday 27th November. While Covid 19 has played a role in the decline of the service there have been ongoing mismanagement issues which meant that even if the Airport was running at normal capacity the service was at risk and this has now proven to be the case.
All bar two of the members operating the Airport Flyer service have opted for redundancy but the Company has declined to consider that option. A request for urgent mediation has been lodged with the Ministry of Business Innovation & Employment.
We are awaiting a determination from the Employment Relations Authority on our claim for disregard of our collective agreement when TIM (Transport Information Management Systems) was introduced in October without consultation. In the interim members are reminded not to use the kiosks for signing on and off using your unique identifier (drivers licence). Incidentally it has been suggested that our failure to use the kiosks for signing on and off is the reason there are so many payroll issues. This is simply not the case. The constant payroll issues are unrelated to how you sign on or off. The same issues are occurring in the workshops where members sign on with their staff number. The fact is that TIM has to date been proved to be unfit for purpose.
October Reschedule Rosters & Shifts
The implementation of the October reschedule went ahead despite the Tramways Union claim of breach of our Collective Agreement. The Company failed to act in good faith, did not maximise full time shifts, failed to ensure the equitable distribution of weekend work in the roster and did not produce the school holiday shifts in the required timeframe. This resulted in yet another application being lodged in the Employment Relations Authority on 28th September. The Authority has referred that matter to mediation which has been set down for Friday 11th December
Breaches of Collective Agreement and Failure To Act In Good Faith
In June the Tramways Union lodged an application in the Employment Relations Authority for sustained and ongoing breaches of our Collective Employment Agreements. At least twenty breaches have been alleged with penalties of $400,000.00 sought. The alleged breaches include forced annual leave (which is still occurring), breaches of mediated settlements and breaches of the Employment Relations Act regarding obligations in relation to good faith behaviour.
Mediation was unsuccessful. On Monday 7 December a conference call between the parties will schedule a timetable for our application to be heard in the Authority.
Airport Flyer
The Airport Flyer Service has ceased from last Friday 27th November. While Covid 19 has played a role in the decline of the service there have been ongoing mismanagement issues which meant that even if the Airport was running at normal capacity the service was at risk and this has now proven to be the case.
All bar two of the members operating the Airport Flyer service have opted for redundancy but the Company has declined to consider that option. A request for urgent mediation has been lodged with the Ministry of Business Innovation & Employment.
ERA describes employment relationship as "broken" - TU News 31/10/20
On Wednesday 28th October, the Tramways Union met with Jay Zmijewski (NZ Bus Chief Operating Officer) and Brendan Prince (General Manager NZ Bus Wellington) in the Employment Relations Authority to determine the Tramways Union claim that the Company has breached both the Employment Relations Act by failing to act in good faith – (not being responsive and communicative as required by the Act) and our Collective Employment Agreement by failing to consult over the introduction of TIM.
TIM (Transport Information Management) as we now know, is an all encompassing software package wrapping up all the various reporting systems of the company and payroll management. There are numerous “teething” problems with payroll and the Tramways Union evidence to the Authority yesterday was there had been no consultation prior to the introduction of TIM as required by our CEA.
The Authority was keen for the parties to reach an agreement especially in terms of the employment relationship which the Authority member described as broken. That alone is an indictment on the Company.
Unfortunately we were unable to reach a settlement due in large part to the continuing violations of our CEA, which in practical terms means we will await a determination from the Authority. Updates will be posted on this page as they come to hand.
TIM (Transport Information Management) as we now know, is an all encompassing software package wrapping up all the various reporting systems of the company and payroll management. There are numerous “teething” problems with payroll and the Tramways Union evidence to the Authority yesterday was there had been no consultation prior to the introduction of TIM as required by our CEA.
The Authority was keen for the parties to reach an agreement especially in terms of the employment relationship which the Authority member described as broken. That alone is an indictment on the Company.
Unfortunately we were unable to reach a settlement due in large part to the continuing violations of our CEA, which in practical terms means we will await a determination from the Authority. Updates will be posted on this page as they come to hand.