Unite had complained to the States Complaints Board that drivers who had previously worked for Connex were losing out because the Transport Minister hadn’t secured them such a good deal when they started working for LibertyBus.
Advocate Christina Hall, on behalf of Unite, argued that the drivers were getting less favourable terms and conditions than they had previously enjoyed working for Connex – and that under the terms of the Connex contract, the TTS Minister had an obligation to ensure they were on the same terms under their new employer.
Under Connex some drivers were doing loads of overtime, working more than 60 hours a week and taking home up to £70,000 a year but that stopped when CT Plus (now LibertyBus) took over the Island’s bus contract in 2013.
LibertyBus said it wasn’t a fair system for everyone and drivers now get a higher basic rate of pay and can earn £40k a year. The company have put a cap on the maximum hours they can work for health and safety reasons too.
But Unite argued this had had a ‘serious detrimental impact’ on some drivers’ lives because they’d got used to and budgeted for the overtime money.
The Union was also pushing for changes to sick pay. At Connex drivers could claim up to 20 weeks’ sick pay if they’d worked for the company for over seven years but CT plus capped theirs at a maximum of eight weeks’ full pay and six weeks’ half pay for all those who’d worked for the company for more than four years.
The States Complaints Board didn’t uphold Unite’s complaint concluding that the Transport Minister had supported the drivers to the limit of his ability to do so when LibertyBus took over the bus contract.