A NATIONAL bus and rail strike by SIPTU and NBRU drivers is looming in Ireland.
SIPTU announced on Tuesday it is to ballot its members in Bus Éireann and Dublin Bus for industrial action, up to and including strike action, over the government’s plans for the potential privatisation of up to 10% of bus routes.
SIPTU Divisional Organiser Owen Reidy said the committees in both companies had decided unanimously to hold the ballot after talks with the Department of Transport, the National Transport Authority and the two bus companies broke down on Monday.
Initially, SIPTU will ballot its driver members, as they will be most affected by any potential transfer of routes to the private sector.
However, they will also be consulting with other grades, and with their members in Irish Rail, and have not ruled out further ballots.
Meanwhile, the National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU) confirmed earlier that it is balloting members not only in Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann, but also in Irish Rail, on the basis that the potential privatisation could weaken the CIÉ group including the rail company.
NBRU General Secretary Dermot O’Leary also confirmed that the union will mount a legal challenge to the legislation underpinning the government’s proposals.
The union says the National Transport Authority (NTA) and the Department of Transport have failed to give any assurances on what will happen to workers if the plans to privatise 10% of all bus routes go ahead.
O’Leary said: ‘We view this issue to be so serious that we’ve been trying to persuade the NTA and the Department of Transport, and indeed the ministers, both previous and current – that the route they’re on, if you’ll pardon the pun, is one that’s legally unsound.’
He added that the union was not closing the door on private entry into the market, as it cannot do that, but he said it wanted an agreed situation based in law, which will protect its members and the companies they work for.
O’Leary said if the NTA proceeds with the tendering process in the next two weeks, his union would have no choice but to follow a twin-track approach of ‘the courts in one hand and industrial action in the other’.
He warned: ‘We’re prepared to challenge that in the event of them moving ahead with the tendering.’
SIPTU and the NBRU each represent around 50% of the drivers in Dublin Bus.
In Bus Éireann, the NBRU represents about 66% of drivers.
On Monday, SIPTU had warned: ‘SIPTU members in Bus Éireann and Dublin Bus will meet tomorrow (Tuesday, 31st March) to consider balloting for industrial action following the breakdown of talks, facilitated by the Labour Relations Commission (LRC), on plans to privatise 10% of public bus services.’
SIPTU Utilities and Construction Division Organiser, Owen Reidy, said: ‘The talks, between representatives of the transport unions, the National Transport Authority (NTA), CIE and the Department of Transport, broke down today following a threat by the NTA to implement the privatisation of routes without agreement with unions.
‘SIPTU opposes any privatisation of public bus routes.
‘However, our members accept that if such a process is going to be implemented there must be agreement on what impact it will have on workers in terms of transferring to new employers, pension entitlements and other areas of concern.’
SIPTU Sector Organiser, Willie Noone, said: ‘These talks had been going on for several months. SIPTU had submitted a number of questions to the NTA in relation to our members’ concerns.
‘Today, the NTA responded to these questions in a completely unsatisfactory manner, which fails to indicate how key issues such as the transfer of undertakings and legacy costs will be dealt with if routes are privatised.
‘Without an adequate response to these issues it is impossible for our members to agree to participate in the NTA plans. However, when this was indicated to the NTA its representatives threatened to implement the privatisation of routes without agreement.
‘It was at this point that SIPTU representatives withdrew from the talks and will not re-enter them until the threat is lifted.
‘Tomorrow members of SIPTU Bus Éireann and SIPTU Dublin Bus committees will meet to discuss what course of action to take in light of the NTA threat. These meetings will consider the holding of a ballot for industrial action, up to and including strike action.’
• SIPTU members have stated that a proposal received from the management of Aer Lingus, on Monday, 30th March, in relation to the guaranteeing of workers’ terms and conditions of employment in the event of a takeover by IAG, does not adequately deal with their concerns.
SIPTU Sector Organiser, Owen Reidy, said on Monday: ‘Today, the union received a response from Aer Lingus Chief Executive Stephen Kavanagh, to our request that the company enter into a legally binding agreement that would protect workers’ conditions of employment and jobs in the event of an IAG takeover of the airline.
‘Unfortunately, although the response does indicate some movement by management, overall it is too vague and conditional to form a sound basis for discussions on the issues of concern.’
He added: ‘Our members in Aer Lingus are seeking the protection of a Registered Employment Agreement, or a similar legally binding commitment, in relation to their terms and conditions of employment.
‘The response from management in relation to this request does not go far enough and in key respects is ambiguous. The SIPTU position is that unless the company can provide robust guarantees in relation to the areas of concern to our members the government should not even consider selling its share in the airline.
‘This has been the union’s position since the beginning of discussions in relation to a possible IAG take over of Aer Lingus and will remain its position.’
• The IMPACT trade union’s Central Executive Committee (CEC) has pledged its full support to today’s (Thursday 2nd April) strike, by workers in Dunnes Stores.
At a meeting of the CEC last Thursday, members of the executive voiced their support, and called on IMPACT members to support the campaign for decent work by Dunnes Stores workers.
IMPACT president Jerry King said that every trade union member has a role to play in supporting the workers in their strike action.
‘These workers are taking a brave and necessary step against an employer determined to treat its own workforce with callous disregard.
‘These workers deserve our support and our respect, and I will look forward to meeting them on the picket lines next Thursday to express my solidarity and support,’ he said.
IMPACT officer Margaret Coughlan said she welcomed the opportunity for IMPACT members to show solidarity with the campaign.
‘This is a real opportunity to have public and private sector workers standing together and fighting for the rights of Dunnes Stores workers, and the Wicklow Health branch will be visiting and supporting workers in our region,’ she said.
IMPACT general secretary Shay Cody said that Mandate representatives had been invited to use IMPACT offices around the country during the dispute.
Cody said: ‘This is an important fight for these workers, and we’re open to assisting them in a practical way, as well as offering the solidarity of IMPACT members throughout the country.’
Writing in last week’s blog on the IMPACT website, Mandate general secretary John Douglas said: ‘As with all industrial disputes, Dunnes workers don’t want to go on strike, but they’ve been left with no other option after their employer refused to engage with their union and also refused invitations from the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) and the Labour Court.
‘At the heart of the dispute is decency and fairness, something senior management in Dunnes find incomprehensible. The Decency for Dunnes Workers campaign was founded on four key objectives: secure hours and earnings; job security; fair and consistent pay for all Dunnes workers; the right to be represented by their trade union,’ he said.
