Dublin Bus to run full service after resolution of strike

DUBLIN BUS says it will be operating a full service today following the resolution yesterday of the three-day unofficial strike which left up to 150,000 passengers a day without bus services.

The strike was not sanctioned by Siptu or the National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU), but was organised by a group called the Bus Workers’ Action Group.

The dispute began last Sunday after a driver at the Harristown depot, who is a member of the group, was suspended when he refused to work a new schedule on the 128 Baldoyle-to-Rathmines service.

Of the 2,860 drivers employed by Dublin Bus, 450 are based at the Harristown depot near Dublin airport. Those who were rostered to drive from the depot stopped work in sympathy with the driver on Sunday.

On Monday morning the dispute spread to the 250-strong Clontarf depot. Twenty of the 90 rostered drivers at Clontarf returned to work at about 11am on Monday, while almost all rostered drivers at Harristown remained off-duty, although two of the late-shift drivers did work their rostered shifts.

There was a major escalation in the dispute yesterday morning when the strike spread to the Summerhill and Conyngham Road depots, taking significant numbers of buses off the road during the morning rush hour.

Areas worst affected by the action included Ballymun, Finglas, Donabate, Swords, Blanchardstown, Rathmines, Blackrock and Kimmage.

A spokeswoman for Dublin Bus said drivers in the company’s other depots had suffered intimidation from the protesters when they tried to begin their shifts. Two buses were “stoned” by protesters as they tried to leave Phibsboro garage, she said.

The protesters approached drivers at the Donnybrook garage but they refused to join in the unofficial action.

But most drivers returned to work before noon. However, the Harristown drivers remained on strike until early in the evening when the company agreed to lift their suspension of the driver who initially refused to operate new schedules.

The company spokeswoman said the drivers had agreed to return to work pending further discussions on the new rosters. She stressed that it had always been the company’s position that it was willing to discuss the changes as long as the drivers remained in work but there would be no discussions while unofficial action was taking place.

She added that there would be a “full hearing” in relation to the driver who was suspended.

The changes to schedules were introduced on a number of routes across the city last weekend as part of Dublin Bus’s plans to take 120 buses out of service in an effort to save €31 million annually. Both unions agreed at the Labour Court earlier this month to accept the cost-saving proposals.

The Bus Workers’ Action Group, which was involved in a previous protest at Harristown in 2007 has been linked to the Socialist Party. However, party leader Joe Higgins last night said there was no connection with the group and he did not know any of its members.