On this day 44 years ago, all early morning, night and weekend bus services in Canberra were cancelled, The Canberra Times reported on its front page.
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The cancellations meant that bus services were even more restricted than the "emergency services" operated during the supply crisis in 1975.
Under the new timetables, services would be restricted to between 7.30am and 7pm on weekdays. No weekend services were expected to be included in the timetable. The cuts stemmed from the decision of the Transport Workers Union to ban overtime.
The restricted timetables were based on drivers working no more than eight hours a day, instead of the 10 hours a day which was common under previous timetables.
The secretary of the Canberra branch of the Transport Workers Union, Mr Carpenter, said that his union planned to lodge an application for the bus drivers' award to be varied to require the department to continue to use the existing basis of calculating overtime penalty rates. Under the department's proposal, overtime would be calculated daily. This meant a drop in wages for many drivers. Mr Carpenter said the union would also seek penalty payments for work before 7am and double time for any excess of five hours work without a meal break.