Complaint Review: Surfside Buslines

Surfside Buslines is the operator of public transport on Australias Gold Coast. The Gold Coast is Australias number one holiday destination. The main bus route gets so busy during holiday season that buses frequently run late and are not adjusted back to their proper operating time when it gets busy. This causes their drivers to lose their mealbreaks in order to catch up lost time. As a result of this a 12 hour shift can become 15 hours and the drivers are often overfatigued by the end of the shift.

As a responsible driver I raised this issue with the management and was told to put up and shut up if I didnt want to lose my job. I also raised the issue of overcrowding and was told the same thing. Sometimes a shift would get back to the depot up to 3 hours late due to heavy loading and drivers are not paid for overtime thats over the times in the shift or due to the lack of a mealbreak.

I made a complaint to the union (Transport Workers Union which I have also mentioned here.) and as a result I was unofficially sacked for being a member of the union. I took the matter to industrial relations where it was referred to the federal court and because I had not received written notice of my termination I did not have a legal claim as I was still legally employed there. I cannot get a job elsewhere because I am presently employed at this company. It is also Illegal to resign from a job due to harrassment. This harrassment in my case involves non payment of wages.

This company has defaulted on payment of my wages for nearly a decade and as such I have lost a valuable property worth $140,000 as a result of this. In another instance a policy of this company was to refuse travel to anyone who didnt have payment for a fare and as a result a schoolchild was killed by a passing car after being refused on one of their buses for not having a bus pass or money.

It is clear that this bus company needs to be closed down and replaced because it is a danger to the community

Craig
NSW
Australia