Brisbane bus strike to impact peak hour commuters

Brisbane City Council bus drivers will walk off the job for a second time in two weeks next week, as pay negotiations stall, but this time commuters will feel the pain in the afternoon peak hour.

The planned peak-hour strike will run from 4pm to 6pm on Wednesday. (AAP Image/Regi Varghese)

Brisbane City Council bus drivers will walk off the job for a second time in two weeks next Wednesday, this time in peak hour.

And turmoil is set to spread to other unions covering council’s 8000 workers from early March unless there is agreement on redundancy changes and skills payments for tradies.

The Services Union, AWU and CFMEU are among the unions most affected by those issues.

In what Council labelled “a clear sign of bad faith negotiations”, the Rail, Tram and Bus Union issued notification of the planned peak-hour strike, from 4-6pm, just 30 minutes before the latest round of negotiations with Council yesterday afternoon.

However, RTBU boss Tom Brown denied it had acted in bad faith and instead it wanted to give commuters as much time as possible to make alternative arrangements.

He said the union had given notice late yesterday of the Wednesday stoppage, as required under Queensland industrial laws.

He described talks yesterday as “Groundhog Day” but said there was still a chance the strike would be called off later today if council gave ground on back pay.

Only about 80 trips were cancelled during Thursday’s stoppage from about 4.30-6am.

Council is offering a pay rise of a total of 7 per cent over two years.

The union was demanding 4.5 per cent rises a year over two years plus back pay.

The current national inflation rate is 2.4 per cent.

Striking bus drivers at Virginia on Thursday morning.

Council said 87 trips were missed during Thursday’s strike, effectively between 4.30am and 6am, with 349 trips completed.

While traffic and bus impacts were minimal on Thursday morning, afternoon peak-hour impacts next Wednesday were expected to be far more widespread if the planned industrial action proceeds.

School routes would once again not be affeccted during next Wednesday’s planned strike.

Council would continue to rely on bus drivers not participating in strike action to minimise impacts on commuters.

About 20 per cent of council bus drivers are not union members.

However, people are being urged to make alternative arrangements after 4pm on Wednesday.

Transport Chair, Cr Ryan Murphy, urged Brisbane residents to make alternative travel arrangements next Wednesday afternoon.

“It’s incredibly disappointing the Rail, Tram and Bus Union notified us of their next planned peak-hour strike just 30 minutes before we returned to the negotiating table with them,” he said.

“Pay negotiations are based on good faith, but issuing a strike notice 30 minutes before we return to negotiations is the definition of bad faith.

“Brisbane residents have grown weary of the disruption caused by militant unionism in this state and our Council won’t be bullied by these tactics.”