City Council claims rail/bus union wants to call shots
BRISBANE City Council has pointed the finger at George Street as it loses hope of averting more industrial action by bus drivers.
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BRISBANE’S deputy mayor has accused the Rail Bus and Tram Union of wanting to “control City Hall” ahead of another possible bus strike on Wednesday.
As the administration faced questions on its alleged “industrial relations crisis”, public and active transport chairman Adrian Schrinner pointed the finger at George Street.
He said the council had delivered and was implementing its bus driver safety review and had agreed to put on more security guards during EBA negotiations.
Cr Schrinner said the State Government had still not released its safety review into bus driver safety, expected in March, but the union had decided the council “was 100 per cent to blame”.
“They won’t picket outside the state parliament,” he said.
“The unions control George St and they want to control City Hall and they’re not getting it.”
A spokeswoman for Transport Minister Jackie Trad said the bus safety review had concluded and the Government would “release its full response shortly”.
She said the Government had introduced several recommendations of the review including a trial of shatter-resistant window film on Cairns and Gold Coast buses.
The state has also increased the frequency of Bus Safety Forum meetings from two to six per year.
Earlier in the meeting opposition leader Peter Cumming said the Lord Mayor was facing an “industrial relations crisis”.
Lord Mayor Graham Quirk said he believed the pay offer was fair and promised the union would not have control of bus rosters while Brisbane was “under my control”.
He said it was his duty to present an offer that was fair to staff and fair to ratepayers.
The Rail Bus and Tram Union has been contacted for comment.
There is another bus strike planned for Wednesday, August 2, from 10am to 2pm.
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