13 Jul 2017

150 transport staff protest staff cuts in Auckland

10:45 am on 13 July 2017

About 150 transport workers stopped working today in Auckland to protest against new plans the union says could cost 300 of its members their jobs.

One of Auckland's 57 new electric trains at Henderson Station

Workers are protesting Auckland Transport and Transdev's proposal to only have drivers on board trains. Photo: Supplied/Auckland Transport

The Rail and Maritime Union said Auckland Transport and Transdev want to remove train staff on-board, and only have drivers.

The union's Auckland organiser Stuart Johnstone said transport officers will replace on-board staff and will be spread across buses, ferries and trains.

He said that would compromise the safety of passengers.

"We take this very seriously, this attack on our jobs, our member's jobs, and they just want to show how seriously they are about wanting to maintain their presence on the trains."

Auckland Transport said while they were currently recruiting 18 transport officers to replace on-board staff, they expected at least 120 staff would eventually be employed on trains only.

The stopwork meeting ran from 11am-1pm today.

Auckland Transport said services were running as normal.

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