UNIONS REPRESENTING DUBLIN Bus drivers have announced six days of strike action across the month of September.
The National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU) and Siptu this morning served notice of the 48 hour stoppages to the company.
Strikes will take place on 8, 9, 15, 16, 23 and 24 September.
It is now six weeks since a Labour Court recommendation on pay was rejected by staff. The recommendation was an 8.25% increase over two years.
Today, NBRU general secretary Dermot O’Leary accused the company of being “prepared to play Russian Roulette” with services by failing to make moves since then to resolve the dispute.
In his letter notifying Dublin Bus of the strike action, he said:
The silence from Dublin Bus and its paymasters has been deafening and is indicative of how bus workers are viewed by those charged with the responsibility of running a public bus service on behalf of the citizens of our capital city.
“Our members’ desire is not to engage in a dispute which will discommode the very people who rely on this most practical, most necessary public service, however, the minister and the government have a responsibility to ensure that Dublin Bus is allowed to come back to the negotiating table with an improved offer,” O’Leary said this morning.
Unions are seeking a 15% pay increase over the next three years and the 6% rise they were due to get under an agreement in 2009, but which was deferred.
O’Leary said this would be “a building block” towards his union’s claim for pay parity with Luas drivers, who secured an 18% pay rise over four years recently.
In a statement, Siptu organiser Owen Reidy pointed out that Dublin Bus returned to profit in 2014 and there has been an increase in passenger numbers and revenue over the last five years.
“However, during this period the state subvention to the company has been reduced by a total of 24%. This cut further undermines a transport company whose subvention, in comparison to that provided to bus services in other European cities, was already low.”
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