Bus drivers’ pay topup mooted
THE Otago Regional Council is to consider a topup in pay for bus drivers, as a driver shortage continues to bite.
This could bring their base pay up to the September 2022 living wage rate, $23.65 an hour.
However, the move has not been budgeted, lifting wages is complex and there is usually a lag of months before agreed pay increases reach the pockets of drivers.
Another factor is the Government announced more funding for bus drivers in its 2022 Budget, but it is not yet clear how the regional council can get access to the money.
Councillors will discuss such issues at a meeting tomorrow.
Boosting wages from the 2021 living wage rate or from bus drivers’ existing pay has been estimated to cost $470,000.
Lifting pay rates has been described as a potential interim step, ahead of consideration of a report pending about driver recruitment and retention.
Council staff recommended it for reasons that included recognising ‘‘the value we place on our bus drivers and the essential part they play in our network’’.
It has already been noted in a council implementation committee report this month there are not enough drivers nationally to deliver full timetabled services, including in Otago.
This was made worse by the Covid19 pandemic and seasonal flu.
Bus companies have been running a reduced timetable in Dunedin and Queenstown since July 19, after services had been disrupted by extensive cancellations.
The regional council reported it was 39 drivers short of being able to provide a full timetable in Dunedin and Queenstown last Wednesday.
Dunedin Tramways Union president Alan Savell said councillors were well aware of the case for increasing pay beyond small adjustments that had been allowed for inflation.
Mr Savell said wages were not high enough to attract new drivers and even the new living wage, a 90canhour increase on the current rate, would be insufficient to achieve that.
He noted moves that had been made in Auckland and Wellington.
Auckland Council confirmed funding last month for Auckland Transport to implement a bus driver wage uplift of about 8%. This would take average driver wages in Auckland to $25.62 an hour.
Greater Wellington Regional Council agreed to support raising driver wages to $27 an hour from December last year and the council said this was essential for driver retention and managing cancellation rates.
Among the complicating factors for councils is contractual arrangements with bus companies, as well as subsidies from Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency.
The Otago Regional Council could decide to rely mostly on bus companies to gradually increase driver pay, or it could intervene to enable pay increases to be delivered more quickly.
The council agreed in May last year to match the September 2021 living wage rate for bus drivers, but it has not gone further to budget for subsequent living wage rises.
One of the risks identified by the council for boosting funding was suspicion bus companies could rely on it to lift wage rates, rather than lifting them as a consequence of direct negotiations with drivers.
‘‘Practically, there is a risk of becoming too involved or appearing to be too involved in the employment relationship between bus operators, their employees and unions,’’ a report from council staff said.
Another risk identified was other workers, such as cleaners, could seek the living wage.
It was considered this risk could be managed by making it clear the primary purpose of the wage uplift would be to respond to a shortage of bus drivers.
Waka Kotahi is developing processes and templates to enable regional councils to claim a share of funding to top up bus driver wages.
Those are expected to be confirmed in the next few months.