Bus Eireann strike to affect more than 70,000 passengers

More than 70,000 passengers face travel chaos as striking bus drivers ground the Bus Eireann fleet for a second day.

Government ministers and opposition parties have called on management and unions to enter crunch talks after 95% of services were axed yesterday.

The industrial action by members of the National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU) centres on a row over €5m in payroll savings.

Workers from Siptu and the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA), which have also balloted members for industrial action, have also refused to pass picket lines.

Michael Faherty, NRBU general secretary, said drivers would not go back to work until the company withdrew its plan or sat down to renegotiate new proposals.

“We made a decision, we took it because of what happened, and you can’t say after a day or two that we were wrong,” he said.

Bus Eireann usually carries 70,000 people daily on 300 commuter, city, inter-city, and provincial services nationwide.

It warned that depending on the level of strike action, it is highly likely it will not be able to operate the vast majority of routes again. Passengers should visit buseireann.ie for updates.

But it believes the majority of the 114,000 children that use its school transport service will be carried as normal, except for 2,500 youngsters who use normal buses.

Dublin Bus has not been affected by the action.

The rolling strike action, which began yesterday morning, centres on the implementation of a €5m cost-cutting plan which was backed by the Labour Court.

Unions and management have both maintained they were available for talks in recent days, but no contact was made between the parties.

The state-subsidised company claimed the action was unofficial and illegal and stressed it had not received any credible and viable alternatives from the trade unions that will provide the same level of savings needed to keep staffing and service levels.

But Mr Faherty said the union has no intention of coming up with a recovery plan.

“That’s not the function of our trade union,” he said.

“That’s the function of management who are put in to run the company.”

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore and Transport Minister Leo Varadkar said the dispute needed to be resolved.

“The unions should immediately engage with the company in talks to bring this matter to resolution,” Mr Varadkar added.

The following services only are currently operating:

Expressway Inter-city

Route 1 Dublin-Belfast No Bus Éireann services operating. Translink services are operating. Translink services are at 10:00, 11:00, 12:00, 13:00, 18:00, 19:00, 20:00, 21:00 and 22:00 EX Dublin. Services Ex Dublin will operate from Custom House Quay.

Route 33 Dublin-Derry no Bus Éireann services operating. Translink services are operating. Translink services are at 10:00, 13:00, 17:30 and 22:00. Services from Dublin will operate from Custom House Quay.

GOBE – Dublin Airport-Cork

All services expected to operate with services operating from Dublin city centre will pick up at Georges Quay in Dublin and Merchants Quay in Cork.