Wednesday 14 September 2011



Transport Workers Union and Sunbus to face hearing

Laura Packham
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
© The Cairns Post

THE Transport Workers Union Queensland has launched legal action against Sunbus parent company Transit Australia Group with claims of bullying and widespread safety issues.

Fair Work Australia will hear from the Transport Workers Union Queensland and Transit Australia Group representatives in Brisbane via video-link from 1pm today. At a meeting in Cairns yesterday, the parties failed to reach a dispute resolution in relation to safety concerns of bus drivers travelling on Murray St, Manoora.

"We’re coming from two totally different places with no middle ground," TWU Queensland regional industrial advocate Janine Aitken said. "So we’ve filed this action in order to get the matter resolved as soon as possible for passengers and to ensure the safety of drivers who use the Murray St route, as all people deserve to feel safe in the workplace."

Transit Australia Group did not respond to requests for comment from The Cairns Post yesterday. Sunbus drivers threatened industrial action on Friday, attempting to boycott the notorious road from their nightly service after the latest serious rock-throwing incident.

A rock allegedly smashed into a bus windscreen. Drivers have called for protective screening, shatter-proof glass and on-board security guards for nightly routes. Mrs Aitken said Sunbus had worked with police on 15 separate rock-throwing incidents since April 2011, including two along Murray St last month.

However, police said they had only identified four cases relating to wilful damage of buses in Cairns since August last year. Police records show a 36-year-old woman was charged after a mug was thrown at a bus door on McLeod St on August 3.

Two youths are also being sought in relation to a rock-throwing incident on Poolwood Rd, Kewarra Beach on April 3. A can of fruit was thrown at a bus along Mulgrave Rd, Cairns on November 27, 2010.

And a scooter was used to damage a bus window after a youth was ejected from the bus along the Bruce Highway on August 21, 2010.
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