Siptu drivers at Dublin Bus to ballot for strike action

Dublin Bus drivers represented by the trade union Siptu will begin a ballot today on taking strike action if the company goes ahead with a proposed cost-cutting plan.

The union has said its leadership will sanction strike action if drivers at the company vote in favour of it.

The ballot today and tomorrow follows the drivers’ decision to reject narrowly, by 51 per cent to 49 per cent, the latest proposals on cost-saving measures at the company.

The Government last week said it would stand by Dublin Bus in the event of a further strike over the controversial cost-saving programme.

It plans to implement the plan from Sunday November 17th.

In a statement to members at Dublin Bus last week Siptu’s traffic committee said that although an earlier mandate for strike action was still valid it would be appropriate to reaffirm it “due to the changed and serious nature of the circumstances that are now in existence”.

It said these circumstances included the narrow rejection of the cost-saving proposals, the fact that the other union representing drivers in Dublin Bus had accepted the measures and the requirement for maximum unity of drivers in any campaign against unilateral changes to their working conditions.

Drivers who are members of the the National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU) last month voted to accept the latest proposals aimed at addressing financial difficulties at the company.