SIPTU’S NATIONAL OFFICERS will sanction industrial action if Dublin Bus members vote for a strike next week.
Last night, Dublin Bus announced that it plans to implement its cost reduction plans despite the upcoming SIPTU ballot next week.
NBRU workers in Dublin Bus voted to accept a new deal – which followed an independent report into the company’s future – but SIPTU members rejected it.
Dublin Bus needs to cut costs in order to reduce its €52 million deficit.
Today, SIPTU General President Jack O’Connor said that the national officers of the union will sanction industrial action if members in Dublin Bus ballot for it next week.
The SIPTU drivers are to ballot on whether to take strike action after narrowly rejecting the latest proposals on cost cutting measures.
“Strike action will be sanctioned if that is the democratic decision of the members,” O’Connor said.
The SIPTU Traffic Committee told Dublin Bus members yesterday that although an earlier mandate for strike action is still valid, it would be appropriate to reaffirm it “due to the changed and serious nature of the circumstances that are now in existence.”
These circumstances include the rejection of the proposals, the fact that the NBRU has accepted the cost cutting measures and the requirement for maximum unity of drivers in any campaign against unilateral changes to their working conditions.
The ballot on whether to take strike action if Dublin Bus implements the cost cutting proposals will be held on Tuesday 5 and Wednesday 6 November.
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