Dublin Bus faces disruption as staff vote on industrial action

Clerical and supervisory staff at Dublin Bus have begun voting on industrial action following rejection of the 8.25 per cent pay rise recommendation from the Labour Court.

The Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA), which represents about 100 Dublin Bus employees started balloting members on Monday. The vote closes on Wednesday, August 10th.

Members of the National Bus and Railworkers’ Union (NBRU) and Siptu will ballot its members on Thursday and Friday.

All three unions will meet next week and depending on the outcome of the ballots, will aim to co-ordinate industrial action, which could start later this month.

The unions are seeking an agreement in line with what was agreed with Luas workers, who secured increases of about 18 per cent over four years.

Minister for Transport Shane Ross has expressed his disappointment at the outcome of the ballots against the Labour Court recommendation and urged unions and management "to re-engage as soon as possible with a view to an early settlement".

While NBRU and Siptu members voted by an overwhelming 95 per cent against the Dublin Bus offer of 8.25 per cent in pay increases over three years, the TSSA vote was much closer, with 54 per cent against and 46 per cent in favour.

General secretary of the NBRU Dermot O’Leary, noting Mr Ross’s comments, said the Minister was the only shareholder in Dublin Bus “and he has a role to play in encouraging Dublin Bus to come back with an improved offer”.

Mr O’Leary said the Labour Court recommendation “fell short of the offer made to the Luas workers”.

Some 3,200 people work for Dublin Bus and the NBRU is the largest bus driver union, representing 1,500 employees.

Mr O’Leary said “no one wants to go down the road Luas went with 12 days of stages”. The union “would seek to minimise any disruption to the travelling public”. He said the union was not being intractable for the sake of it.

Leader of the TSSA Manuel Cortes said the union’s members were unhappy with the details of the offer especially on pensions “and we will have to see what all three unions can now do together to secure improvements from management”.

He said nobody wanted to see disruption to the travelling public and this could be avoided if “management sit down with us to reach a fair and honourable deal. But we cannot rule out industrial action at this stage.”

A TSSA spokesman said there was “a lot of frustration over the pay freezes that have gone on for so long at Dublin Bus. It went on for years.”

Train workers are also voting on industrial action after talks with management collapsed last week. It could involve one or two-day stoppages.