Dublin Bus staff will consider ‘all out strike’ if dispute cannot be resolved

Dublin Bus will consider an all out strike if the pay dispute cannot be resolved, the National Bus and Rail Union says.

Speaking on Newstalk Breakfast, the union’s general secretary Dermot O’ Leary said on Wednesday morning, “We’re not ruling out an all out strike. The lead we take on that will come from the shop floor. At this moment in time I don’t get an indication from my people that that’s what they want.”

Dublin Bus services will again terminate at 9pm on Wednesday in advance of planned strike action by staff on Thursday and Friday.

Mr O’Leary confirmed that the planned 48-hour stoppage will go ahead.

Further strikes are planned for Friday and Saturday of next week, September 23rd and 24th.

Dublin Bus said the on-going industrial action was costing it more than €600,000 a day and was limiting its ability to pay even the 8.25 per cent increase over three years recommended by the Labour Court but rejected by workers.

Dublin Bus said the final departures on all services, including the Airlink, would be up to and including 9pm. It said the early termination of services was to ensure the safe and secure return of buses to depots before the strike begins at midnight.

Dublin Bus said none of its regular routes, sightseeing tours, Airlink services would operate on Thursday or Friday and that Nitelink buses will not run on Friday night and Saturday morning. A free Culture Night shuttle service that was scheduled to run to facilitate people attending events on Friday evening will also not be available.

Silence

Trade unions representing workers at Dublin Bus on Wednesday strongly criticised what they described as the silence of the Minister for Transport Shane Ross, Dublin Bus management and the Department of Transport in relation to resolving the dispute.

Siptu organiser John Murphy said the “complete intransigence shown” by the three parties in response to the need of his members for an acceptable pay rise had created “real anger and frustration” and strengthened the resolve of striking workers.

Dermot O’Leary, the general secretary of the National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU) said the 400,000 bus commuters in Dublin deserved more than silence from “Official Ireland”.

He said his union had received “absolutely no contact, either directly or indirectly from the Minister’s office, Department of Transport officials, the National Transport Authority or those in the CIÉ Group since the commencement of this dispute”.

“Such a state of affairs is simply not good enough. Playing foot loose and fancy free with a vital public service which underpins the economic and social fabric of Dublin is intolerable and suggests that those directly charged with its provision are devoid of the ability to work towards a solution.”

Inconvenience

The Minister for Arts Heather Humphreys appealed to both sides in the dispute to return to talks to avoid further inconvenience for commuters, particularly ahead of Culture Night.

Mr Murphy said the impact of the dispute on Culture Night in Dublin was “ regrettable”.

A spokeswoman for Mr Ross said he also urged the parties in the dispute to go back to talks.

Dublin Bus said it had accepted the Labour Court recommendation of an 8.25 per cent pay rise over three years for staff at the company.

It said while this was higher than the norm for pay rises in the public and private sectors of approximately 2 per cent, the company believed that such an increase would be “ fair and reasonable”.

“The request for a 15 per cent pay increase from the trade unions will cost €50 million over a three year period and would seriously undermine our financial stability and is not sustainable,” it said.

“We remain willing and open to engage with the trade unions and urge them to return to talks as provided for in the Labour Court recommendation, so that we can work together to move forward and find a resolution to the current dispute.”