Bus Safety Week is arriving.
| Running from Monday 17 February to Sunday 23 February, Bus Safety Week prioritises an important cause: to raise awareness for the community on how to stay safe on and around buses. However, little has been done to address the safety of bus drivers themselves – the critical cohort of workers responsible from getting our communities from A to B. This is the perfect time to recognise the harsh realities bus drivers face on a daily basis. In recent years, industry has observed growing levels of anti-social behaviour practiced by passengers and general members of the public towards bus drivers. |
From fare evasion, all the way to verbal, and even physical assaults – there has been an alarming increase in passenger incivility that unfortunately, shows no sign of engaging the brakes.
Over the last two years, the NSW Bus Industry Taskforce has worked together in identifying key issues in the industry and generating the necessary solutions. Through the Taskforce, it has been made clear that abuse and assaults towards bus drivers have only increased. The Taskforce has found that recorded assaults perpetrated against our dedicated bus drivers averages over 15 per month.
Consistent bus driver surveys conducted by the TWU, as well as academic industry research, shows that every bus driver is impacted by passenger incivility, and a concerning number of drivers are subject to the worst of cases – physical aggression and violence.
For last year’s Bus Safety Week, your bus industry delegates gathered in Sydney’s Mount Druitt to raise the flag on the working conditions bus drivers face – from dirty, unusable bathroom facilities that are often in a state of disrepair – all the way to issues in industry training.
This year, the TWU will be calling upon Transport for NSW to convene an urgent Bus Industry Workforce Strategy Meeting to ensure the voices of our drivers are heard on the issue of anti-social passenger behaviour.
“We hear the voices of our bus drivers loud and clear, and we see the inequity they face with our own eyes. As a bus driver, you put an honest effort into a hard day’s work. You do not deserve the treatment you are subject to. Your union is fighting alongside you.”
STARTRACK – PROTECTED ACTION BALLOT
| Workers at StarTrack are taking action! With StarTrack demonstrating a lack of commitment to uplifting the conditions of workers, as well as consistently breaking its promises, the TWU has filed a Protected Action Ballot (PAB) with the Fair Work Commission. A PAB provides employees the opportunity to vote on initiating protected industrial action. For your fellow members at StarTrack, this is it the next step in standing for the improvement of working conditions and pay. Historically, TWU members at StarTrack have fought long and hard for their conditions, and in typical TWU fashion, they refuse to see their efforts torn down. “I congratulate our dedicated members at StarTrack for taking a stand. We will win this fight together. The unity you have shown thus far has made that abundantly clear. Keep fighting, and your union will walk alongside you – every step of the way.” |