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Speaker 1: Well, territory bus drivers, they're set to ramp up industrial

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Speaker 1: action from today over industry standards and safety concerns. So

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Speaker 1: as of today, drivers are going to start wearing high

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Speaker 1: Vey's vests with campaign slogans and joining us on the

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Speaker 1: line to tell us more. Is Transport Workers Union NT

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Speaker 1: branch Secretary Sam Macintosh, Good morning.

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Speaker 2: Sam, morning Katie, thanks for having me on here.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, thanks so much for your time, Sam. What has

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Speaker 1: sparked the escalation in industrial action?

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Speaker 2: Well, as you're aware, Katie, we've been negotiating for some

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Speaker 2: time for a new enterprise agreement with bus operator in

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Speaker 2: the territory CDC, but we are not making the progress

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Speaker 2: that we need to make here. We've got a group

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Speaker 2: of drivers that do it difficult and a very very

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Speaker 2: dangerous job, and we need to make sure that they're

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Speaker 2: on industry standards when it comes to their paying conditions,

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Speaker 2: and right now they're frankly nowhere near it and that's

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Speaker 2: got to change.

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Speaker 1: So talk me through. Firstly, what are the safety concerns

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Speaker 1: all members. I mean you and I have spoken before,

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Speaker 1: We've spoken at length about some of the assaults, some

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Speaker 1: of you know, the different poor behavior. I think you'd

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Speaker 1: say that our bus drivers are subjected to.

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Speaker 2: We have, Katie. We've spoken quite often, haven't we about this,

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Speaker 2: And unfortunately it's a similar story I'm reporting today. We're

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Speaker 2: we are working constructively with the department and the government,

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Speaker 2: of course, and we're making strides. But you know, in

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Speaker 2: the last forty eight hours, I've spoken to a driver

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Speaker 2: who was under attack while driving a bus. Passengers trying

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Speaker 2: to get to him while he was in his driver cabin,

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Speaker 2: vandalizing the bus. Just a terrifying experience. We've got drivers assaulted,

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Speaker 2: verbally abused rockets while driving buses, and it doesn't matter

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Speaker 2: whether the bus is full or empty. But it's a

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Speaker 2: pretty it's a pretty terrifying prospect when you're driving along

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Speaker 2: along the streets performing a really important role for our community,

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Speaker 2: getting everyone from A to b, including people that are

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Speaker 2: very vulnerable, and you're in control and looking after a

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Speaker 2: busload of people and it's as we know, it's a

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Speaker 2: heavy vehicle and you're under attack from rocks. You're fearing

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Speaker 2: for your personal safety. But our drivers, gee, they do

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Speaker 2: a terrific job and they're really concerned about their passengers

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Speaker 2: as well.

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Speaker 1: Same with that incident that happened in the last forty

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Speaker 1: eight hours where they're trying to get him while he's

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Speaker 1: inside you know, the safety sort of cage or I

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Speaker 1: can't think of the right word. Where was that? What

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Speaker 1: happened there?

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Speaker 2: Well, it's an instance, Katie, where a group have decided,

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Speaker 2: for whatever reason, that they want to have a crack

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Speaker 2: at a bus driver who's just doing their job. And

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Speaker 2: it happens way too often, as I've said, And what

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Speaker 2: happens is that the driver's getting abused and then attempts

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Speaker 2: are made to attack the driver physically, and the driver

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Speaker 2: and all of the passengers on board are put in

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Speaker 2: a really a terrible position because your top priority is safety,

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Speaker 2: of course, and it's just not good enough when someone

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Speaker 2: that's just going about their job, doing work, just wants

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Speaker 2: to get home to their family at the end of

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Speaker 2: the day, when their safety is compromised, it's not good enough.

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Speaker 2: And when we talk about bargaining for a new agreement,

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Speaker 2: it's context. This is a difficult and dangerous job, and

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Speaker 2: yet our drivers in the territory aren't even on minimum

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Speaker 2: industry standards. So I can give you an example if

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Speaker 2: you like to, like you know what I'm talking about.

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Speaker 2: For example, on a weekend. Most of your listiness will

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Speaker 2: be familiar with the idea that if you work on

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Speaker 2: a Saturday, you'd get one point five times pay on

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Speaker 2: a Sunday, double time, because we recognize you're away from

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Speaker 2: your family and friends working on a weekend. Currently, drives

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Speaker 2: in the territory get not those rates. One point three

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Speaker 2: four on a Saturday, one point seventy nine on a Sunday,

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Speaker 2: and the same ratios flow through to overtime and working

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Speaker 2: on public holidays. Our drivers in the territory don't currently

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Speaker 2: get annual leave loading. So these are the sorts of

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Speaker 2: conditions and industry standards that we're talking about. They're really important.

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Speaker 2: It's important when you're trying to attract and retain drivers.

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Speaker 2: But it all comes in the context of what is,

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Speaker 2: as I say, a very difficult, dangerous jobs. Our drivers,

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Speaker 2: as we all know, they're working hard and they do

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Speaker 2: such a good job, but it is trying and some

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Speaker 2: of the stories that you and I here it's not

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Speaker 2: good enough and we're not going to put up with it,

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Speaker 2: and we want to make sure that we're negotiating agreement

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Speaker 2: that reflects the work that our members do day in,

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Speaker 2: day out.

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Speaker 1: So where too from here. I mean, when are you

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Speaker 1: back at the negotiating table and what exactly are you

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Speaker 1: going to be calling for?

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Speaker 2: Well, we are, We're always at the negotiating table, Katie.

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Speaker 2: We're interested in doing a deal, reaching outcome that puts

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Speaker 2: our members in the position that they should be and

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Speaker 2: deserve to be in. As you said at the top,

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Speaker 2: we're ramping up our industrial action. From today, listeners will

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Speaker 2: see drivers in high view best, bright Orange Best. They'll

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Speaker 2: be very difficult to miss. It'll have a bit of

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Speaker 2: campaign slogan on it. And what we're trying to do

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Speaker 2: here is bring the community on the journey with us

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Speaker 2: and make sure everyone really understands exactly what we're talking

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Speaker 2: about here and what's at stake, because at the end

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Speaker 2: of the day, when you become a bus driver, you

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Speaker 2: do it because you want to support our community and

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Speaker 2: we want to continue to do that. But it's very difficult,

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Speaker 2: and so this campaign right now, the phase we're in,

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Speaker 2: is about showing the community exactly what we go through

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Speaker 2: day in day out and explaining our campaign. We've had

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Speaker 2: posters up in buses doing exactly that for the last

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Speaker 2: couple of weeks. But where we're heading, Katie, is if

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Speaker 2: we don't get a resolution here, we are going to

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Speaker 2: have to consider further industrial action, including strikes. It's always

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Speaker 2: a last resort. It's not what anyone wants to do.

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Speaker 2: But this is a critically important job.

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Speaker 1: How soon could that happen, that strike action, if you

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Speaker 1: know there's not any movement, well.

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Speaker 2: It could happen reasonably quickly. We always as a union,

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Speaker 2: we always work constructively on these matters and we try

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Speaker 2: to reach an outcome with the company that would put

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Speaker 2: us in the position when we've got those industry standards.

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Speaker 2: We recognize that taking that action is the last resort.

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Speaker 2: It's not what anyone wants to do. We want to

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Speaker 2: support our community. But that's why Katie, this action that

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Speaker 2: we're starting today with the high views vests, it's really

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Speaker 2: about raising the visibility and highlighting the campaign so that

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Speaker 2: we can ensure that our community knows this is exactly

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Speaker 2: what's going on, this is what we're fighting for, and

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Speaker 2: this is why it matters. And I'd just asked that

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Speaker 2: if anyone's catching a bus and you see one of

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Speaker 2: our members, a driver in a high views vest, say

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Speaker 2: today and let them know that you're backing them in

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Speaker 2: because I think what we're embarking on here is trying

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Speaker 2: to raise standards across the territory, not just for drivers,

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Speaker 2: but we're trying to create a better network for everyone

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Speaker 2: and that very much includes our community.

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Speaker 1: Well TWU NT Branch Secretary, Transport Workers Union Branch Secretary

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Speaker 1: for the Northern Territory, Sam McIntosh, thank you very much

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Speaker 1: for your time today and keep us up to date

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Speaker 1: with how things progress.

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Speaker 2: Thanks, Katie, appreciate it.

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Speaker 1: Thank you