There is plenty of blame to be shared for the two-day strike at Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann that has caused disruption to hundreds of thousands of passengers and cost the State-owned bus companies up to €2 million. The dispute centres on plans by the National Transport Authority to put out to tender 10 per cent of the routes currently operated by Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann, with further services put out to tender after 2019. The National Bus and Railworkers Union (NBRU) and Siptu fear privatisation will lead to lower pay and poorer conditions for their members and they want guarantees from the Government that extend beyond 2019.
Minister for Transport Paschal Donohoe has offered assurances that no existing employee of the companies would be forced to move to a private operator even if Dublin Bus or Bus Éireann lost the rights to operate these existing services. The unions are sceptical, arguing that if the scale of privatisation accelerates after 2019, such Government pledges would be impossible to fulfil.
The unions have good reason to fear the impact of privatisation on their members, particularly in view of the experience of employees when Dublin’s waste disposal services were transferred to private providers. Some of the unions’ positions are implausible, however, such as the demand that a registered employment agreement for the sector be put in place which would place a legal floor under terms and conditions for staff.
For their part, Bus Éireann and Dublin Bus claim that the strike is illegal but they made no move in advance to prevent it through a court injunction. If they were so confident of their legal claims, did they not have an obligation to put a legal halt to a strike that has proved so costly to themselves and their inconvenienced passengers. At its heart, this dispute centres on issues that belong in the sphere of politics rather than industrial relations. All the parties involved, including the Government, must now engage in urgent talks to resolve it before the next planned stoppage in a fortnight’s time.