Dublin Bus Strike

[robertclark125]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-23568638

Dublin Bus workers are continuing an all-out strike in a row over cost-cutting measures by the company.

The strike began at midnight on Saturday and the company said no services would operate on either Sunday or Monday.

The company's cost cutting plan is part of a Labour Court recommendation aimed at saving 11.7m euros (£10.16m).

Drivers and other staff have described the changes as unacceptable, but Dublin Bus said they are necessary.

The company introduced the changes on Sunday, following 14 months of negotiations which failed to reach agreement with staff.

The cost-cutting measures include pay-cuts for executive and management grades and cuts in annual leave for clerical staff and management.

Although there will be no reduction in pay for drivers, overtime rates and premium payments have been reduced.

The company has also introduced changes to rosters, particularly to accommodate new summer timetables.

Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar expressed regret at the dispute and called on trade unions to have a rethink and end the industrial action.

"I urge the trade unions to reconsider their position and call off this action. Both sides should do everything to agree the necessary savings in order to protect existing service levels," Mr Varadkar said.

"Public transport should be run in the interests of the passengers who use it and the taxpayers who pay for it, and not in the interests of management or unions.

"Negotiations have been ongoing for over a year and recommendations have been made by the Labour Relations Commission and the Labour Court."

Ireland's Minister for Public Transport, Alan Kelly, described the strike as a "bad day for public transport in Ireland".

The government has urged Dublin Bus and unions to resolve their disagreements.

Workers at Irish Rail have indicated that they will lend their support to Dublin Bus workers if the dispute is not resolved.

The strike isn't affecting Bus Eireann services, nor Luas, nor, at the moment, irish Rail. That said, Irish Rail workers have said they may lend their support, but of course, lending support doesn't have to mean industrial action.

Twenty years ago, there were two citywide strikes, lasting 72 hours each, over the conversion of Cabra route 20B to City Imp minibus operation, as the 120. The dispute was, eventually resolved, but the dispute centred around the fact the 20B was a popular route, wheras the 83, which was first converted in 1992 to minibus, was a route with declining passenger numbers.

Also in 1993, there was sporadic strike action at Phibsborough depot, regarding the conversion of route 39 to high frequency single decker operation.

In my opinion, both sides need to get talking, and the buses need to get running, but I wonder how both parties would feel about converting some diagrams or routes to single deck operation, and possibly, for new starts, lower rates of pay.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

I noted on Sunday AM there were a lot of DART trains running about Dublin in 6 / 8 car formation - I don't recall them being so long when I was in Dublin last summer - is this as a result of increased demand owing to the strike or because of the thinner timetable in operation for the bank holiday, or both?

 

[F Great Eastern]

Incidentally subsidy to Dublin Bus is not really huge, and it has gone down in recent years, however at the same time in the last few years the size of the fleet has been cut by around 180 buses or so, so the cuts to the subsidy have been roughly in line with changes to the fleet size, give or take a percent either side.

The Dart and Luas are always going to be busy since Dublin Bus operates 950 vehicles and is the only operator for urban routes. The private competition to them only exist on sightseeing tours, airport routes and one route between Dublin and Swords, so the Train and the Tram is all people have, but a lot of people live nowhere near either a tram line or a train line. I know some people who will have to walk for over na hour to get to their nearest train station, take a train into the city center and then face another 30 minute walk to their office.

The savings the company are looking for are around €11.5m. Certainly there is the belief (and in my own belief), that management need to take a bigger burden than the cuts they are doing at the moment, but saving that kind of figure simply isn't going to be possible unless all grades of staff take some kind of hit. The simple fact is the cost base in the company is too high. If you look at the accounts, the average wage across all grades is approx €50,000 a year. Unfortunately the accounts don't break down what each role is getting paid.

Posted this in the First Thread, but as it's relevant First Aircoach are now the only company operating services from Dublin Airport to Dublin City since their much bigger competitor has been forced to withdraw all services ran by 950 buses across the entire city due to workers going on strike for an indefinite period over cost cutting plans.

As of late morning yesterday it seemed to become obvious that extra capacity was going to be needed, so Aircoach have now resorted to hiring in ex Dublin Bus double deckers to help with the load which as you can imagine, with all other buses in the whole city out of action, is considerable.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/487703...Xrr-fg4Zyi-fg4XaM-fgjbF9-fgjdYN-fg4Z2z-fgjch5

Ironically, the two buses hired by Aircoach, for Sunday and Monday, used to be used on Dublin Airport routes by Dublin bus until they were withdrawn in 2012, still retain a partial Dublin Bus Livery, and are the first time Aircoach has used a bus on scheduled service rather than a coach.

 

[34D]

but I wonder how both parties would feel about converting some diagrams or routes to single deck operation, and possibly, for new starts, lower rates of pay.

What are you suggesting is the advantage of single deckers? I don't understand the point you're making.

 

[robertclark125]

What are you suggesting is the advantage of single deckers? I don't understand the point you're making.

Well, not being an industry insider, i'm not 100% certain, but I'm sure that some firms operate a policy of drivers on single deckers being paid less than those on double deckers. I should also add, I'm not suggesting DB actually cut existing drivers pay, but certainly new starts should be put onto single deckers, on a lower rate.