SCORES of Derry to Dublin bus passengers face major disruption as staff at Bus Éireann begin an all-out indefinite strike from midnight last night.
But Translink say its Ulsterbus Goldline Express service between Derry and Dubin will continue despite the strike.
It has urge passengers to follow up its Twitter Feed @Translink_NI to keep to date with service but it says that anything on its timetable marked #GLE is operating as normal.
Representatives of the five Bus Éireann unions met this afternoon to consider their reaction to management’s decision to implement significant cost-saving measures without union agreement.
Unions had previously warned that any such move by management would be met with a strike.
Bus Éireann said that the strike is extremely disappointing and will only worsen its already difficult financial crisis.
In a statement, it said the company is facing insolvency in a few short months and not acting to implement cost savings urgently would be completely irresponsible.
It said that the company’s financial losses for January and February of this year are 41% higher than for the same period in 2016. It also said that losses for last year were €9.4m.
It said that the action will cause “major inconvenience” to its customers and reiterated that school transport services, GoBe.ie, Eurolines and Cross-Border Translink operated services should not be affected by the strike action.
Minister for Transport Shane Ross has said that he is deeply concerned about the impact the strike action will have on passengers.
He said it was time that both sides in the dispute show their willingness to discuss improvements at the company, which can “result in an acceptable and fair agreement that safeguards the company’s future and all of those who rely upon it.”
The National Transport Authority has said that the strike is not in anybody’s interest, “least of all the travelling public.”
The NTA said that it would urge Bus Éireann and unions to continue negotiations for a settlement.
SIPTU Sector Organiser Willie Noone said pickets will be placed at depots from midnight tonight and all bus services will be affected, except for school bus services.
He said indefinite strike action is not a decision that members took lightly and have tried to avoid it, adding that there was no other way of trying to protect conditions of employment.
He said Dublin Bus workers and train drivers at shared depots across the country may decide not to pass the pickets tomorrow, but he is not advocating this. Mr Noone said strike action is the last alternative.
NBRU General Secretary Dermot O’Leary said today’s meeting was to decide when industrial action would be triggered, adding that it looked as if they were talking about hours rather than days.
He said that union members felt they were being forced onto the picket line, saying attempts were made to resolve the dispute.
In a statement this afternoon, the NBRU said the letter “is clearly the straw that has broken the back in terms of spelling out exactly what the real agenda is here, the new management structure at Bus Éireann have clearly signalled that they are intent on pursuing a race to the bottom in relation to workers jobs, terms and conditions and to reposition Bus Éireann as a low cost transport provider, mimicking some of the rogue operators that populate the so-called interurban market.”
The union said it remains available at any stage to re-engage “on an efficiency based agenda in order to resolve the Expressway crisis”.
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