Strike action warning if bus routes go to private firms

BUS workers across the country will be forced to strike if a quarter of Dublin routes are given to private operators, a union leader warned yesterday.

Transport Minister Seamus Brennan said the Dublin plan to have one quarter of the bus routes open to private firms is to be implemented over the next two years. No definite plans were framed for areas outside the capital, but the minister indicated the same principle could be extended nationwide if the Dublin experiment succeeds.

But general secretary of the National Bus and Railworkers Union Liam Tobin said the proposal was most unjust to a State firm which was showing a profit but blocked from expanding its services. Mr Tobin said both Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann, which serves the rest of the country, were being denied the extra licences given to competing firms which were not giving workers the same wages and conditions.