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UNIONS REPRESENTING BUS Éireann workers have left Workplace Relations Commissions talks dissatisfied today as management revealed plans to significantly change the structure of the company’s Expressway service.
After the talks, National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU) general secretary Dermot O’Leary said representatives had gone in for discussions on a “long overdue payrise”.
“The company not alone indicated that it would not be in a position to contemplate any pay rises, but also dropped a industrial relations bombshell in relation to the future of the Expressway service, threatening the livelihoods of 800 Bus Eireann workers,” he said.
Unions were seeking pay rises for 2,600 staff, similar to the increases sought for Dublin Bus workers - a 5% raise over three years and a further 6% agreed to in 2008 but which they never received.
Difficult situation
As the two sides sat down around the table, Bus Éireann issued a letter to staff to “highlight the very serious and difficult situation facing all of us”.
Chief executive Martin Nolan said the Expressway business, which receives no State subvention, is continuing to lose money due to a number of factors, including increasing levels of competition from low cost operators and increased staffing costs.
He said there will be some “structural changes” required to deliver the company’s new commercial plan.
These will involve separating out the Expressway product entirely from the rest of the business and implementing new terms and conditions for staff within the Expressway product. It is proposed to sub-contract a number of routes within the plan but it is expected that all routes currently operated will continue to operate.
He said staff would be consulted on restructuring measures with a view to gaining agreement.
In light of the above it should be clear that the overall trading position of the company dictates that no payroll increases can be contemplated at this time.
‘Decimation’
In a ballot earlier this year, 94% of NBRU members at Bus Éireann said they would be in favour of industrial action if the company made changes to the Expressway service.
Dermot O’Leary stated his union would not tolerate “the imposition of a low wage bus transport service” as a solution to a problem resulting from “department policy”.
The current Dublin Bus dispute and this crisis at Bus Eireann are not unconnected, there are huge question marks over the Department of Transport and its stewardship of the State-owned public transport services, cutting off vital financial support and overseeing a licencing regime which has now led to the potential decimation of an expressway service that connects into every nook and cranny in rural Ireland.
He called on politicians across all parties to “step up to the plate” on behalf of the communities they represent.
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That service is rubbish, I booked online a bus to the airport at 2 am. Apparently pre booking still doesn’t guarantee you a seat. The driver picked up passengers until the bus was full and just bypassed any remaining towns and went straight to the airport. No extra bus, no one telling you to make your own way.. Just left standing there on the side of the road in the middle of the night
And people say… The airport is well served by buses and taxis and doesn’t need a direct connection to national and suburban rail links in the city center.
@G-Star Bareback: Doesn’t matter if the service is rubbish or not – they will all go on strike because O’Leary is convining them that the can strike for a few weeks and get a cash bonus. Even if it costs them all their jobs in the long term. Not sure where you were coming from, but anytime there is a private alternative, take it and support them as we are too grown up to be dependant on any service that is tied to a monoploy throwing public cash at it to run on time.
The Bus Eireann helpline closes at 5pm or something. If you’re on your way home from work and your bus doesn’t show there’s no way to find out what’s going on. I’ve been left waiting for more than an hour in the cold and rain on many occasions. Their information boards are a joke too.
I’ve had enough of this. I’ve had no pay rises and nothing but tax and utility bill increases since 2008.
I’m going on bl00dy strike.
No more snarky comments on TheJournal till I get parity with the Luas workers’ increase.
Yay!
That’s the spirit Mike but you should probably do it as part of a union.
@Billy Mooney: you’re a gas man/woman
you accept that unions are run of greedy individuals on massive salaries and then on the other hand you tell anyone you can to go join a union.
@mooney, if you delete your account(s) and stop waffling on, I’ll do it as well – like a union. I’ve no problem taking a hit for the betterment of everyone else on here, even if it costs the two of us “our jobs”.
Wally. No more of this ridiculous nonsense. The unions are taking the plliss and anyone with half a brain can see it.
@Colin Moran: To be fair, the price of living is rising massively, but wages aren’t matching. If you live in Dublin you have hardly a chance to buy a house, or even rent one. I’d be ok staying on current wages if it didn’t cost €900 a month for a crappy studio apartment that used to be a downstairs toilet.
@John yes, housing is a massive issue no doubt. But the ‘cost of living’ is a relative term. If you look at rate of inflation however, it has been on a steady downward trend since about 2007.
There is no way (apart from Wally’s economics) that all unionised workers’ wages can be expected to rise so that everyone can afford a house where they want or to live whatever lifestyle they want.
I saw Jack O’Connor at a local campaign lunch for council. This man is dangerous. He has a serpent tongue, he speaks with passion, eloquence and without a script. Any weak minded would fall for his charade easily. He addresses to everyone as “Comrades” and he uses that word a lot. He knows what he’s doing, which is even scarier.
Billy looney and the greed machine aka aaa
@Colin Moran: Everything is going to rise in price. There is zero doubt about that. When one of the most essential things for survival, housing, is in a massive crisis and becoming out of reach for many people you either demand more money or cheaper housing options. Which do you think is easier to obtain?
The real tragedy is middle class people have zero problem not standing with other middle class people seeking a rise in their circumstance. I mean it is all part of the system, do nothing about wealthy bankers but protest over something as minuscule as water charges. If Joe Public had any sense they would have shut the country down until we burnt bond holders and put bankers in prison for extremely long periods for the crimes of massive theft. But we don’t, we let the top brass off and then do their bidding by cannablising ourselves. We did it at the start of the recession by attacking public sector workers until massive cuts were made. Now we moan that public sector workers like nurses and Gardai aren’t being paid enough. We strip the long fought rights of the middle class by allowing companies like Uber and Deliveroo pretend that their employees are “self-employed” so they don’t have to provide tools for the job, sick pay, benefits or whatever else, we attack bus and Luas drivers attempts to get more pay because we aren’t getting the same. We are on a downward curve to the bottom, where you will have zero rights and low pay. When that happens remember that you did it to yourselves. Divide and conquer is the oldest of concepts, people keep falling for it.
@John Sorry, my mistake, I thought you were being quite reasonable but then the old jargon and slogans come tumbling out…
Chat away with Wally there, I’m off to my middle class utopia.
@Juan Venegas:
They use the word “Comrades” when addressing each other as they are all communists. This is Marxist terminology. Scary stuff, indeed.
@Juan Venegas: He should be driving a bus then, wait a minute he is a millionaire so why bother……
Yes those crazy Marxists who loaded tens of billions of odious banking debt on to the backs of the people and broke the economy. Oh no wait……..That was the entire right capitalist establishment. Scary stuff, indeed.
Well said @John Smith… There are Cities in Europe that have proven that public services are better in state hands . That when subvention and infrastructure for it is increased that it actually benefits the City. Lower fares, better corridors. More business is created with increase in jobs. Yet Cities where their public transport has been privitised have gone the opposite way. Except the subvention for them always increases substantialy.
Make sure you wash your hands when you leave
Fools on the left are helping bring about a situation where publicly-run transport in this nation becomes untenable, giving the government gombeens an excuse to privatise the lot. What will Billy and his Trot mates have to say for themselves then?
Funny how the Unions somehow managed to get it into the heads of Luas drivers that they deserved a massive raise.Then they got onto Dublin Bus, Dart Drivers and now Bus Eireann. I wonder are we been punished for something ? I wonder could it be anything to do with where Labour ended up after the election ?
@phil: there’s still rail (remember Ogle’s “pampered” speech about their need for a payrise), and then aer lingus pilots, then taxi drivers, then back to luas drivers. Should keep us going in strikes for at least another couple of years while the rest of the world carries on.
“The company not alone indicated that it would not be in a position to contemplate any pay rises, but also dropped a industrial relations bombshell in relation to the future of the Expressway service, threatening the livelihoods of 800 Bus Eireann workers”
This was mentioned on the radio this morning before any talks, if Dermot O’Leary wasn’t aware of this before going into the meeting serious questions need to be asked. How can a company losing €5-€6 million a year afford pay increases, mad stuff going on in the NBRU HQ
I would prefer to see the company restructured so that bus timetables can be relied upon, instead of taking three hours for a scheduled two hour journey. I sympathised with the drivers but it comes down to putting the paying customer first.
Here we go again. It’s like whack-a-mole.
@Awkward Seal:
No it’s called Governmental ineptitude. How the hell do they expect a PUBLIC TRANSPORT SYSTEM to operate without adequate subvention? Its a disgrace!
@Warthog: Or how do you expect it to be privatised if it can’t be run into the ground first. Industrial action will do the job nicely.
I wonder what bonus management are on to deliver a strike.
@Warthog: It has plenty adequate subvention. Pity most of it goes into wages and pensions, rather than services.
@Dave Doyle:
@Fred Johnson:
A Public Transport system is exactly that it’s for ALL the citizens of the state. The profitable areas along with subvention (tax) support the non profitable areas. That there is a coordinated PUBLIC transport system for the whole country not just the cities, who by the way (cities) are well serviced by various modes of both Public transport. Our subvention in PT is one of the lowest in all of Europe. The last thing you need is a fully Privatized system as we know what those companies do. Slash pay & conditions and cherry pick profitable routes. Cars for a large number of people in this country are not luxury items they are a necessity just to the lack of Public transport outside the major urban areas and motorists in this country have been crucified with the “rip-off” taxes and insurances! I live roughly 35mins from Blanchardstown in a village of about 2000 people, There is one bus at 6:20am which goes to Dublin City Centre via Liffey Valley. For me to get to Blanch IT on that Bus it would take me 3 hours plus. They have been cutting the Public Bus services in rural areas for years! In fact we had a much better Public Transport out here back in the 90′s than we had during the Celtic Tiger years and later!
One can argue the rights and wrongs of the workers actions but what you cannot argue with is the atrocious Public Transport system in the country (for all our citizens) and that is down to the lack of investment (subvention) by all previous and current Governments!
@Warthog:
Perhaps some private bus operators would help you out there on your commute from Blanch? Did that ever enter your head? Might even be cheaper.
Are the unions gonna tell us the secret they apparently know of how to get blood from a stone?
@Ian McNally: No secret…….Strike
A blood donation from tax payers I assume
Let them strike and lose pay. Plenty of private operators can run the intercity routes.
Go ahead…. strike away….the private companies will happily pick up the few remaining BE passengers
They will indeed Peter… just like in Scotland and at a far cheaper rate…. until they drove the state competition out of business and then the non profitable routes got axed fares grew by huge amounts and the nice new busses were moved onto the next city they were chasing.
I’m not a worker or a user of public transport but it is a race to the bottom that the Scottish regret to this day…
This country needs to be closed down,the corruption is getting worse,judge in Fitzpatrick case has gone too far.
Dublin Airport to home, 160 miles, €20 on a private commercial bus. Home to Limerick, 26 miles, €14 on Expressway. Expressway offer good service, good vehicles, good wifi and well-located stops, but they are just too dear compared to the private buses.
John you said it all in one there well located stops good busses good wifi… The private hire bus drives mainly point to point i.e. Dublin airport to limerick Galway or cork all main cities covered by major road networks. They don’t have a series of stops along the way.
Privatisation of these routes would make the small towns on these routes completely isolated with no transport options only private car.
It’s time to privatise
Another neo-liberal anti-social agenda to drive public services into the ground at the expense of private enterprise and the continual driving down of wages meaning that the State has to support those who are not earning a living wage at the expense of the profits of private enterprise and this again spirals into less resources available for other social services.
Bus Eireann made an operating loss of 5.4 million and total loss of 5.9 million. The staff want a pay rise…
James Ryan are you stuttering
Bus Eireann made an operating loss of 5.4 million and total loss of 5.9 million. The staff want a pay rise…
Hemorrhaging money, money loosing routes and still they purchase a fleet of new buses. Typical irish economics
Why does Bus Eireann management at least attempt to run a reliable service and build business rather than decry competition. Realistic timetables would be a start. Who would expect the exact same travel times say from Dublin to Galway throughtout the day without allowing for different levels of traffic? Bus Eireann does. As a consequence buses never arive at timetabled times thereby causing passengers to become frustrated and turn against using the bus. Why advertise a real time information service and then rarely operate it? Why have an internet ticket which requires the driver to enter over 20 digits to activate ticket with numerous errors while trying to do this leading to delays in boarding pasengers – mobile phone, scannable tickets and leap tickets available on private bus services for years! Why advertise wifi service that rarely works? Why treat your annual commuters with contempt when introducing changes to routes? Why operate a complaints system that’s fails to engage with the isues but just fobe off complainants with stock responses? Why not have a number of passenger represenatives on the board? Novel idea why not asked what is it our passengers expect of the service? Also it should be mandatory for senior managers in Bus Eireann to use their own service to get to work!
Fuc kin same misinformed muppets on this article too.
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