Media release – Rail, Tram and Bus Union, 26 Nov 2024
METRO TASMANIA CRISIS SHOWS STATE GOVERNMENT HAS GIVEN UP GOVERNING
Metro Tasmania bus drivers in southern Tasmania will take two work stoppages this Friday, in another escalation of their dispute with Metro management and the State Government over wages and conditions.
Drivers will stop work for two hours on Friday morning (29 November 2024) from 5am to 7am, and again in the evening between 5pm and 7pm.
Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) Tasmania Secretary Byron Cubit said drivers were getting increasingly frustrated with the State Government’s failure to finalise a new Enterprise Agreement.
“Transport Minister Eric Abetz and Treasurer Guy Barnett are completely missing in action.
“The State Government is so preoccupied with staving off no confidence motions, and covering over the Spirit of Tasmania fiasco, that it has simply given up governing.
“Metro bus drivers deserve better, and the people of Tasmania deserve better.”
Mr Cubit said that while several issues in the proposed Enterprise Agreement had been resolved, a number of key issues remained outstanding, and State Government intervention was now needed to get an acceptable deal across the line.
“This dispute has been dragging on for months, and now we are fast running into the busy Christmas period – just as industrial action is escalating.
“Metro Tasmania lost $3.4 million in the most recent financial year. There is a clear need for extra funding to enable Metro to provide competitive wages and conditions for its drivers.
“Without more bus drivers, there is simply no chance that Metro will be able to restore the services which we ‘indefinitely suspended’ last year – let alone cater for future events at the new Macquarie Point stadium.”
Media release – Meg Brown MP, Shadow Minister for Transport, 25 November 2024
Minister’s hands off the wheel approach not helping solve Metro woes
Labor stands for safe, secure, well-paid jobs, and we’ll continue to back Metro workers in their fight for better working conditions as further industrial action takes place this week in the north and south of the state.
Unfortunately, Minister Eric Abetz has shown he’ll continue to leave workers high and dry by refusing to step in to facilitate an outcome.
Responding to questions about the Liberals’ massive bungling of the Spirits replacement earlier this month, Minister Abetz told media that Ministers shouldn’t take ultimate responsibility for the project because they weren’t paid as much as the TT-Line and TasPorts executives.
It looks like he’s trying to wash his hands of any responsibility when it comes to supporting Metro workers and fixing Tasmania’s public transport woes as well.
Public transport is meant to be an essential service, yet under the Liberals Metro has been driven into the ground and drivers are at breaking point.
If the Minister was doing his job properly he’d get his hands on the steering wheel and start driving some outcomes.
