More drivers consider Dublin bus action

Dublin Bus drivers in north Dublin are to meet today after some of their colleagues yesterday voted to take strike action from…

Dublin Bus drivers in north Dublin are to meet today after some of their colleagues yesterday voted to take strike action from tomorrow.

Siptu is due to issue a statement after the meeting which takes place at 3pm at the Harristown garage which is at the centre of the dispute.

Members of the National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU) voted 68 per cent in favour of a strike over proposed new schedules that would mean drivers out the Harristown depot take their breaks and end shift in the city centre - 11km from the garage.

Dublin Bus wants to introduce improvements to the existing number 4 route from Ballymun to Blackrock and a new route 128 from Baldoyle which serves the city centre and Rathmines.

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"Drivers believe that the proposed new arrangements will be a fiasco for both the travelling public and drivers. Passengers will be left waiting on buses in the city while relief drivers try to make their way from their parent depot over 11km away," the NBRU said.

The company has no agreement with their unions on new schedule proposal and the new routes could have been introduced under existing arrangements, it added.

The company said it had the backing of the Labour Court and would introduce new schedules at the depot from next Monday.

It insisted it is not asking the drivers to work longer hours and that they do not have to travel to the depot to pick up their buses.

Siptu drivers have voted by 59 per cent for industrial action if the company attempts to introduce two new cross-city routes unilaterally.

They said Dublin Bus management was trying to "cut costs on the back of extending drivers working hours".