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Sam Somers come up with an idea to donate 50¢ to support Bus Drivers who striked in Wellington on Saturday.

The strike was over a Wage negotiation mishap and started on April 23 at 4am for 24 hours.

Mr Somers sold 62 Coffees at Newtown Markets’ Bean Here stall and donated per cup the proceeds to the CTU Bus Drivers Relief Fund.

Source: CC/ Facebook

thisquality approached him for a comment, where he said that his motivation behind doing the donation scheme is to support his Bus Driver friends as he is a former Union member.

“My Main Motivation behind this was to support my bus driver friends, I am a former Union member, and many of those bus drivers are my customers either at the markets or at my Rongotai Site prior to lockdown,” he said.

“The actions of Next Capital aren’t in the line of how New Zealand treats their employees, their options of going Nuclear as the first response doesn’t go down well as being a responsible corporate.”

“I will continue doing this Every Week at the Newtown and Johnsonville Market until the lockout has ended and both Next Capital and Tramways Union come back to the table.”

Source: CC/ Facebook (NZ Bus)

Around 100 NZ Bus employees had walked off the job to strike. Due to this, their employer issued a lockout notice.

The Union applied to the Courts for an injunction. It was found that lockout notices did not comply with the provisions of the Employment Relations Act.

Next Capital wanted to remove a previously established condition known as Penal Rates and the one-week additional annual leave.

The company was allegedly buying time for collective agreements to expire past the 12month expiree date. This was to enforce the agreement. It would have forced drivers to go onto individual contracts.

Mr Somers encourages other businesses to join in and support in many ways.

“I not only want my business to be part of it but would like other business who support our bus drivers to join,” he said.

“If it’s coffee, doing similar to how I have done it; fifty cents from every coffee sold to the driver relief fund or say if they were a restaurant it could be $1 for every meal sold.”

Image: SUPPLIED

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