SIPTU representatives have warned that due to the intransigence of management and the Department of Transport there is a risk that Dublin Bus will enter a long and damaging period of industrial conflict when workers begin a 48-hour strike on Thursday, 8th September. SIPTU Transport, Energy, Aviation and Construction Division Organiser, Owen Reidy, said: “Unless the approach of management and the officials at the Department of Transport changes radically, Dublin Bus would seem to be set for a long and damaging period of industrial strife.“The obstructive approach of management is evident in the announcement this afternoon that all Dublin Bus services will end at 9.00 p.m. tomorrow (Wednesday, 7th September). This is an unnecessary move which will just further inconvenience the travelling public. Dublin Bus drivers had committed to completing their shifts, even if this meant returning buses to their garages after the official start of strike action at 12.01 a.m. on Thursday.He added: “Since our members overwhelmingly voted in favour of industrial action last month there has been no engagement with the Department of Transport or Dublin Bus management, apart from a one-hour meeting. At this meeting management simply informed our union representatives that it was not willing to improve on the terms of a Labour Court recommendation which had already been categorially rejected by our members.”SIPTU Organiser, John Murphy, said: “Dublin Bus returned to profitability in 2014, passenger numbers are up, revenue is up, fares are up but pay has remained stagnant. However, over the last six years the state subvention has been reduced by 24%. Even worse is the situation whereby €2 million of the profits earned by Dublin Bus was taken last year by the National Transport Authority rather than reinvested in the company. This sum could have gone some way towards meeting the Dublin Bus workers’ pay claim.“By their actions the Department and management would seem to be intent on sleep walking into a prolonged dispute which has the potential to create chaos for the travelling public and do long term damage to the company.”SIPTU and the other four Dublin Bus unions have served notice for a series of 48-hour work stoppages on Thursday 8th and Friday 9th September, Thursday 15th and Friday 16th September, and Friday 23rd and Saturday 24th September.SIPTU members will picket all seven Dublin Bus depots at Clontarf, Conyngham Road, Harristown, Ringsend, Phibsboro, Donnybrook and Summerhill, as well as the company’s head office on O’Connell Street, from 5.00 a.m. on each dispute day.
SIPTU warns management risks provoking long and damaging dispute at Dublin Bus
