Bus schedule impasse a concern OBA

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The debacle over bus scheduling is another example of Government failure, according to the Opposition One Bermuda Alliance.

Shadow Transport Minister Patricia Gordon-Pamplin yesterday questioned why a labour government could not work with the Bermuda Industrial Union to bring the matter to a successful conclusion.

Repeated efforts have been made to replace the current bus schedule, which has been in place since 1998.

The BIU rejected the latest proposed schedule at a three-hour meeting on Friday.

And consultant David Reed who created the schedule and has had a working relationship with the Department of Public Transportation since 1998, has told this newspaper that 25 schedules have been rejected by the BIU over the years.

Mr Reed blamed the deadlock on an arbitrator’s decision to allow the union to ratify the bus schedule.

“One must question why union-government cooperation in this matter has become so problematic. It seems people have forgotten the art of negotiating and that the respect needed to make negotiations work has gone missing,” said Ms Gordon-Pamplin.

“I am inclined to conclude that the working conditions are more a sticking point than the schedule itself, because I know the bus drivers are interested in making their industry work.”

But she added: “More broadly, it is odd that a labour government has had so many disputes with labour.

“You cannot profess to be concerned about labour on the one hand and not be able to work with labour on the other, for the better good of Bermuda.

“The Premier undertook in her 2010 Budget Statement that the non-rostered ‘grey schedule’ would be worked on to increase efficiency and reduce costs to the taxpayer. Is anybody in government looking out for Bermuda?

“The bottom line is that the public deserve good bus service, the drivers deserve good working conditions, the mechanics deserve adequate inventory to service the equipment and the people of Bermuda deserve a new government.

“As things stand, the current Government is failing Bermuda in too many areas.”

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