Bus commuters across the Gold Coast and the Tweed face a day of chaos with Surfside drivers and cleaners striking for 24 hours.
Passengers are being urged to find alternative transport with hundreds of services expected to be cancelled or delayed.
Kinetic, the operator of Surfside, says priority will be given to school services but warns they will also likely face disruptions.
“There will be significant impacts to all Gold Coast and Tweed bus services on Tuesday with cancellations and substantial delays,” James Saltmer, Southeast Queensland General Manager for Kinetic said.
“School bus services will be prioritised, however, impacts will occur and we urge all passengers to find alternative transport arrangements wherever possible.”
Today’s industrial action follows a four-hour strike last month as a pay dispute escalates.
Jared Abbott from the Transport Workers Union says the strike is a last resort, arguing Kinetic’s offer falls short.
“What we’ve seen in this industry is bus drivers fall further and further behind other industries and fall further behind the cost of living. So we don’t want to settle a wage increase, which is only going to keep them up with the cost of living for one year and then get them further backwards in years to come,” Mr Abbott said.
Mr Abbott admits today’s action will be an inconvenience to commuters but has defended the actions of drivers and cleaners.
“We don’t want to disrupt the public, but at the end of the day, what’s been happening is that bus services have been getting cancelled, they’ve been getting delayed. The public is already suffering because there’s a huge shortage of bus drivers.
“So this might be short-term pain for some people, but in the long run, if we can get a decent rate for these drivers and attract more people into the industry, it’ll be better for everyone.”
The industrial action will run until 12.05am on Wednesday morning, however, drivers are not ruling out further strikes.
