Varadkar backs Dublin Bus as Siptu re-ballots drivers

As Siptu prepares to re-ballot its members at Dublin Bus for industrial action next week, Transport Minister Leo Varadkar has said the Government will stand by the company in the event of strikes by the union’s drivers.

Dublin Bus has confirmed it intends to implement its €11m cost-recovery plan for all grades from Nov 17. That is in spite of the fact that hundreds of drivers who are members of Siptu last week rejected new, independent proposals on the cost-savings plan drawn up by one of its own former organisers, Noel Dowling, and management consultant Ultan Courtney.

In parallel, however, drivers from the National Bus and Rail Union, which had also previously rejected savings proposals from the Labour Relations Commission, voted to accept the two men’s interpretation.