BUS DRIVERS LEAVING

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29744, 10 February 1962, Page 13

BUS DRIVERS LEAVING

Union To Try For Solution

The national executive of the Tramway Workers’ Union has been directed by the national council of the union to consider ways of solving t>he problem of the rapid turnover of workers in some cities.

The secretary of the union (Mr P. A. Hansen) said in Christchurch yesterday that if the executive settled on a means to combat the rate at which men left their jobs after learning to drive a bus, it would approach the employers with its proposals and, if necessary, the Government.

During its meeting in Christchurch this week the council also discussed the issue of training. This was excellent in some centres, said Mr Hansen, but in others it fell short of the recommendations made by a Government-appointed Committee on Transport in 1958. The executive would also act on this matter.

The council meeting had produced no firm solutions to the problems of drivers’ health, recognition of the disadvantages they suffered through driving strain and high physical standards needed compared with other workers, said Mr Hansen. ‘‘We do not decry the need for high physical standards,” he said, “but we feel very definitely that the age at which a man often has to leave the job ought to be considered.” But drivers could not find alternative employment in their own line, he said. The failure rate was high in the fifties. There are no changes in the executive after the council meeting. The officers reelected were: president, Mr L- C. J. Southon (Christchurch); vice-president, Mr A. Graham (Wellington); sec-retary-treasurer, Mr Hansen (Wellington); executive, Mr H. H. Jeffries (Auckland) and Mr J. Sanders (Dunedin).