By Fawwaz Baktee
Three months after being awarded the Loyang Bus Package under the Bus Contracting Model, UK-based transport service provider Go-Ahead Group Plc signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the National Transport Workers’ Union (NTWU) on 15 February 2016, outlining the terms of its new employment package for bus captains.
The company’s recruitment will commence this month and it aims to hire 700 bus captains to ply a network of 25 bus routes across Changi, Pasir Ris, Punggol and Loyang by the third quarter of this year.
Highlights in the package include:
- A minimum starting salary of $1,865 for Singaporean and PR bus captains;
- A $2,000 sign-on bonus for experienced bus captains;
- Bonus payments for bus captains who provide good service;
- A $430 annual allowance that can be spent on health, learning and leisure programmes;
- Up to 26 weeks of paid maternity leave for female bus captains;
- Two days of elder care per year;
- Free rides on public buses and trains;
- And career progression opportunities.
Assuring Affected Bus Captains
These employment terms are aligned to the assurances that the NTWU Bus Contracting Transition Committee (BCTC) negotiated for as part of the Public Transport Tripartite Committee’s guidelines on good employment practices in the bus industry, said NTWU Executive Secretary Melvin Yong.
The assurances include offering employment to all current bus captains affected by the transition, offering employment terms which are not worse-off than what the affected bus captains have been enjoying before the transition and giving affected bus captains the choice to join the new operator or be redeployed by their current employer.
Source: NTUC This Week
