You saw them on the news last night, 13 Southern Transport us drivers who went on strike because they say the buses they have been given to drive are not roadworthy. Well so much for being on strike, tonight, they've struck out. Today, they told us that, all 13 of them were fired by Novelo's. But that's not what Novelo's said. Bus boss Bob Garcia has a different interpretation, he said they walked off the job. Here are his comments on that and a host of other matters from a press conference he held today.
Bob Garcia, Novelo's Bus
"We did not complete one joint of Punta Gorda this morning, as I mentioned earlier, because the buses were in Dangriga, they were at the halfway point. Those buses have since continued on their journey today, having been fit into the schedule, and so tomorrow we will have Punta Gorda so we are meeting the requirement for Dangriga right now. And so I would like to say that operations in the south in pretty much in tandem.
The drivers who did not report to work, they are no longer are a part of the company. They abandoned their job, they were fired. They abandoned their job. I think the staff in Dangriga, especially whatever action or reaction they wanted, did not take into account their riders because they had done so, we would have been able to move those people on time. I think one does what they believe they need to do in order to prove a point and they've done just that. But this company's position, this management's decision is that we cannot continue to operate the way certain people would like for us to operate. And it is this management's position that if the bus cannot pay its way, then either we need to discontinue that run or we need to look and see if the bus is making the income and the income isn't reaching the office. The income that the bus generates, the company ought to get it."
Jules Vasquez,
Is it your opinion Sir that certain drivers have been stealing from the company? Having been taking receipts from your bus runs and putting it in their pocket instead of returning to headquarters?
Bob Garcia,
"My position is that the company is losing money for a number of different reasons. You and your bus must earn, so long as the conditions are right, and its this management's decision to ensure that the conditions...for example if I were to put somebody on a run at the dead of night, knowing that nobody is out there, it would be rather unfair to expect any income off that run. But I am saying if you are going to run during peak and your income is still low, and I happen to be out, or my senior staff happen to be out, and see the buses fully loaded and the income is low then you do indeed have a problem. The drivers who believe that their bus is not capable or safe to go the road, and their bus doesn't have the required income to pay for the repairs, they don't have a bus to drive. Those buses will be repaired but they'll be repaired and given to other drivers who can maintain the type of income to keep the bus on the road.
I know there are reports that we haven't been spending money to repair and maintain the buses and what I have here are the invoices which shows how much we have been spending on Southern Transport buses. In fact for November alone we have spent in excess of $13,000 to keep Southern Transport on the road and if you care to look through those, you will find that it includes a number of tires, we have things like slack adjusters which has to do with the brakes, we have brake lining, and a host of other things. So indeed we have been spending money to keep the buses on the road."
Jules Vasquez,
But when we went down there yesterday we saw broken windshields, brakes that were actually falling off the vehicle. Those buses were in operation and were in use up until the point of the strike. You can't argue that unworthy buses were on the road.
Bob Garcia,
"Jules I'll tell you this. I don't know what you saw, I don't know what you were told. However for the past week a number of Southern Transport buses were taken off the road by this management and the instruction that was given to the station manager was that those buses would only be repaired if he found new drivers for them because the current drivers were not making the income for me to repair them and put them back on the road. So indeed you have buses down there that and defects and this management is fully aware of those but those buses were not on the road."
Jules Vasquez,
What do you say to appease the commuters who saw the bus drivers last night on TV showing frightening cases of windshield broken, brakes flying off, and buses unfit for travel with the bottom about to fall off?
Bob Garcia,
"I mentioned earlier that those buses have been parked for some time. I now give you the opportunity that we can go downstairs and take pictures of whatever bus we have in this parked because these are the buses going out on runs and see if indeed those are in the same conditions. I have bought replacement buses for Southern Transport and I have repaired and continue to repair Southern Transport buses. Those buses indeed needed to be repair. There are three buses in Dangriga that are the road because the brakes lining needs to be changed. Those have been sitting there for a while, for a few days because we have been looking for replacement drivers. I keep going back to that. Those buses will be made safe when we have the drivers for them. But those who are operating the bus, for one reason or the other, were not able to produce the income to buy the brake pads. Now Jules if you want to buy it for them, if you want to subsidize it, they'll be more than grateful but this management cannot subsidize it. I am sure there is some internal meddling in Novelo's Bus Line Limited. Its unfortunate that many times the people who orchestrate the meddling are not the ones who eventually pay the price for it."
Jules Vasquez,
How would you answer the criticism that Novelo's the receiver, as run by you, has a serious maintenance problem and you've shown a repeated inability to keep buses on the road? It is alleged that only ten percent of the fleet you inherited is actually working right now.
Bob Garcia,
"If indeed ten percent of the fleet that I inherited is working, you should give me extreme credit. We do have breakdowns but its not because of maintenance, these are equipment, we do our checks and preventative maintenance."
According to Garcia, Southern managed to make most of its scheduled runs with stand in drivers from other parts of the company. According to Garcia, the major disruption came to the Dangriga - Punta Gorda leg both yesterday and today. He says that should be rectified by tomorrow. Garcia says his company has spent $198,000 in repairs on the Southern line alone.
