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Do you support the Dublin Bus workers?

  • 05-08-2013 12:41PM
    #1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 29,346 ✭✭✭✭homerjay2005


    mods,is apologies if this already sorted elsewhere, feel free to merge.

    just wanted to get peoples opinions on the current strike which really threatens to cause havoc for people trying to go about their business in Dublin.

    who do you think is to blame here - the workers or the company? personally, ive lost all support for the drivers, they can go and do one as far as i am concerned, their pay levels are up their with the best in Europe for the job, yet they are still not happy.

    What is your opinion on the bus strike? 400 votes

    I think the drivers are correct to strike and the company is at fault
    0% 0 votes
    The drivers are greedy, out of touch and dont deserve their jobs
    100% 400 votes


«13456742

Comments

  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 24,544 CMod ✭✭✭✭Ten of Swords


    No, I do not.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,798 ✭✭✭✭DrumSteve


    I use the bus every day and I need it to get to and from work.

    But I support them. They are not disagreeing to pay cuts or changes, they just want to know when they are going to end. The company afaik wants to make these changes, then more again in future after this.

    So fair play to them. While it puts me out im glad they are taking a stand.

    However with these being boards, I reckon the poll will indicate they should all be rounded up and executed.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 794 ✭✭✭Redlion


    Wow, that second poll option is a little extreme, don't ya think?

    I don't fully support the drivers, as I believe they should accept the recommendations of the Labour Court. However, saying that they don't deserve their jobs is a tad too much.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,178 ✭✭✭✭Captain Chaos


    No I don't support them. Everyone has to take cuts, we all have no choice in this. They will cost people their jobs from this action. If they don't like their jobs, leave, and let others unemployed take over. Life is tough.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,130 ✭✭✭saintsaltynuts


    I was getting on a bus last week while it was pissin rain.The bus driver said to me.."You'll have to wait for the next bus we're full".I said "How long's the next bus?".."He said about Fifteen foot!".....Bastard!


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 29,346 ✭✭✭✭homerjay2005


    DrumSteve wrote: »
    So fair play to them. While it puts me out im glad they are taking a stand.
    here is the financial report for their last figures, total pay related costs are €181million a year - each member of staff costs over €54,000 for the company, which is just astounding for driving buses.

    http://www.dublinbus.ie/PageFiles/2430/Dublin%20Bus%20AR%202011.pdf

    as to how anybody can support them, especially people who need the service, ill never know.
    how you going to get to work by the way?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,138 ✭✭✭foxy06


    Dublin bus is losing money because of fewer passenger numbers because of high unemployment because of the recession which was caused by a banking crisis which was caused by rogue bankers which are sitting pretty with the bondholders laughing at the rest of us.

    The whole country should be kicking up mot just bus drivers


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 26,449 ✭✭✭✭Creamy Goodness


    dickheads in jobs aren't just contained to bus drivers.

    i support them. they do a thankless job, majority of them are lovely and have to deal with dickhead cyclists/motorists (actually all road users).


  • Posts: 2,032 ✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    they do a thankless job,

    I find they get a lot of thanks when people get off the bus.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 26,449 ✭✭✭✭Creamy Goodness


    cisk wrote: »
    I find they get a lot of thanks when people get off the bus.

    idle thanks i've found on most part. on the flip side they'll have people throwing cans of piss at them on the later services.


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  • Moderators, Education Moderators Posts: 26,418 Mod ✭✭✭✭Peregrine


    support them. they do a thankless job

    Excuse me! But I thank them every time I get off the bus.


    And no I don't support them one bit.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,465 ✭✭✭Sir Humphrey Appleby


    No time for them, overpaid and arrogant to boot!
    14 months of negoitations, and they have rejected the Labour Court recommendations.
    Time to to deregulate the buses, see how the greedy feckers fare then when they have to actually compete for business.


  • Posts: 81,309 CMod ✭✭✭✭ Allie Stocky Boardroom


    No


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 29,346 ✭✭✭✭homerjay2005


    cisk wrote: »
    I find they get a lot of thanks when people get off the bus.

    and its a job they are really well paid to do, too well paid in fact.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,496 ✭✭✭Boombastic


    Anyone got any figures of how much they are on?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,231 ✭✭✭BNMC


    No. I support Man United.


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 328 ✭✭becost


    cisk wrote: »
    I find they get a lot of thanks when people get off the bus.

    Why is that? It's definitely an Irish thing like clapping when the plane lands. :confused:


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,388 ✭✭✭KingOfFairview


    Yes


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,102 ✭✭✭DylanII


    I don't support them at all.

    Their basic pay is not being cut, it's just overtime pay and premium payments. The company has negotiated with them for the past 14 months. They went to both the labour court and the labour relations comission both said this was the correct way to cut costs and was fair to the drivers.

    I don't think the company should notify drivers that for every day the strike continues that they will have to make a further €200,000 of cuts to pay.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,824 ✭✭✭vitani


    I don't support them. I don't agree with striking unless it's in extreme circumstances. They're causing a lot of hassle to a lot of people right now. There's thousands of tourists over for the Rock'n'Roll half marathon who are going to be inconvienced and will go home with a bad impression of Dublin. Other people may have to spend a significant portion of their budget just to get to work tomorrow.

    The only people benefitting are taxi drivers.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 88,968 ✭✭✭✭mike65


    Usual Marxist *****.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,913 ✭✭✭Potatoeman


    foxy06 wrote: »
    Dublin bus is losing money because of fewer passenger numbers because of high unemployment because of the recession which was caused by a banking crisis which was caused by rogue bankers which are sitting pretty with the bondholders laughing at the rest of us.

    The whole country should be kicking up mot just bus drivers

    Its the financial regulators job to enforce regulation. A large part of this crisis was caused by greedy civil servant too.
    These semi state companies ramped up pay during the boom too and the service is crap. I walk 40 minutes into work rather than wait for a bus that might not show up.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,732 ✭✭✭Toby Take a Bow


    becost wrote: »
    Why is that? It's definitely an Irish thing like clapping when the plane lands. :confused:

    It's nice to be nice, I suppose. I would thank most people who serve me in my day. When I worked in the service industry myself, it was always appreciated when people were polite.

    Personally, I support them. They have taken cuts in the past and I would guess see the kind of labour court recommendations as merely the first of many down the road. May as well take a stand now rather than further on down the road when their pay and entitlements are further eroded.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 10,562 ✭✭✭✭Sunnyisland


    The recommendations, made by the Labour Court, came into effect at midnight on the 4th of August, with a prescript that any driver working at that time would be counted to have agreed to the cuts.

    Since 2009 representatives for the workers at the company have been involved in talks with the government, the directors, and the labour courts, and have so far made a saving of 25 million euro in overall annual expenditure. This saving has taken the form of a reduction of 20% of staff in areas such as maintenance and clerical staff, as well as drivers, and a reduction in the number of people working per day, as well the reduction in the number of routes and merging of others. And of course; in the raising of prices.

    Bigger European countries, such as Germany, provide near 70% towards their public transport, but in Ireland, their simply isn’t the money. So the company must cut back further. This has taken the form of a range of benefit cuts mostly in relation to wages on Bank Holidays, Sundays, and other public holidays, and a reduction in the number of rest days. While this may seem like a small sacrifice for the greater cause that is austerity; the workers Dublin Bus feel like they can’t be pushed any further.

    It is very important to note that the people most affected by these cuts are not the drivers, but the maintenance and clerical staff. On average a member of the maintenance crew would earn nearly 28,000 a year, before tax. And the majority of them must support families, in a slowly inflating economy. They make up a great deal for this low wage by working overtime, bank holidays and Sundays, as well as doing arduous night shifts. These cuts mean that their basic wage will lower even further, without a cut to the wages themselves. Though the cuts are coupled with a new lower wage packet for new employees.

    This is a company who are being pressed, and pressed and pressed to make more and more savings, stuck between a government who are looking for a good enough reason to privatise them, and work force who simply cannot take anymore. But striking rarely wins you any favours with the populace, and with support, what hope do they have. Personally, I would call it a dumb move, if they didn’t have any other choice.

    But what if they don’t concede, what if the workers don’t lose their nerve, how long could this go on? How far could it spread? During protests in 1913 there were riots on the streets, people living off scraps. Who will come out in sympathy, or even in defence of their own jobs? I’m sure there are people in the opposition, particularly the SWP and PBP that are waiting – even hoping – for this, but none of this really helps the everyday person, they trudge along complaining, but content to put up with it. What happens when they get pushed too far, what happens when they can’t take anymore?

    But sure this is Ireland, it’ll all be grand, we just have to knuckle down, and we’ll make it through.
    http://irishnewsreview.net/2013/08/05/history-repeats-itself-2013-dublin-bus-strike/

    Some intresting points been put here, one,s in which I would agree with.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,786 ✭✭✭Monkeybonkers


    How long have they been on strike for?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,178 ✭✭✭✭Captain Chaos


    How long have they been on strike for?

    This is day 2 of the strike. They walked off the job at midnight on Saturday.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,913 ✭✭✭Potatoeman


    1 day. They walked off the job at midnight on Saturday.

    Was that the nightlinks too. That would be a nasty surprise.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,465 ✭✭✭Sir Humphrey Appleby


    realies wrote: »
    The recommendations, made by the Labour Court, came into effect at midnight on the 4th of August, with a prescript that any driver working at that time would be counted to have agreed to the cuts.

    Since 2009 representatives for the workers at the company have been involved in talks with the government, the directors, and the labour courts, and have so far made a saving of 25 million euro in overall annual expenditure. This saving has taken the form of a reduction of 20% of staff in areas such as maintenance and clerical staff, as well as drivers, and a reduction in the number of people working per day, as well the reduction in the number of routes and merging of others. And of course; in the raising of prices.

    Bigger European countries, such as Germany, provide near 70% towards their public transport, but in Ireland, their simply isn’t the money. So the company must cut back further. This has taken the form of a range of benefit cuts mostly in relation to wages on Bank Holidays, Sundays, and other public holidays, and a reduction in the number of rest days. While this may seem like a small sacrifice for the greater cause that is austerity; the workers Dublin Bus feel like they can’t be pushed any further.

    It is very important to note that the people most affected by these cuts are not the drivers, but the maintenance and clerical staff. On average a member of the maintenance crew would earn nearly 28,000 a year, before tax. And the majority of them must support families, in a slowly inflating economy. They make up a great deal for this low wage by working overtime, bank holidays and Sundays, as well as doing arduous night shifts. These cuts mean that their basic wage will lower even further, without a cut to the wages themselves. Though the cuts are coupled with a new lower wage packet for new employees.

    This is a company who are being pressed, and pressed and pressed to make more and more savings, stuck between a government who are looking for a good enough reason to privatise them, and work force who simply cannot take anymore. But striking rarely wins you any favours with the populace, and with support, what hope do they have. Personally, I would call it a dumb move, if they didn’t have any other choice.

    But what if they don’t concede, what if the workers don’t lose their nerve, how long could this go on? How far could it spread? During protests in 1913 there were riots on the streets, people living off scraps. Who will come out in sympathy, or even in defence of their own jobs? I’m sure there are people in the opposition, particularly the SWP and PBP that are waiting – even hoping – for this, but none of this really helps the everyday person, they trudge along complaining, but content to put up with it. What happens when they get pushed too far, what happens when they can’t take anymore?

    But sure this is Ireland, it’ll all be grand, we just have to knuckle down, and we’ll make it through.
    http://irishnewsreview.net/2013/08/05/history-repeats-itself-2013-dublin-bus-strike/

    Some intresting points been put here, one,s in which I would agree with.

    This is not on a par with 1913. Hopefully they will stay on strike and the government will deregulate the buses allowing real private competition, problem solved!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,178 ✭✭✭✭Captain Chaos


    Potatoeman wrote: »
    Was that the nightlinks too. That would be a nasty surprise.

    It was everything and it was no surprise, they announced the nightlinks were gone so more taxis were out to pick up the slack.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,913 ✭✭✭Potatoeman


    It was everything and it was no surprise, they announced the nightlinks were gone so more taxis were out to pick up the slack.

    Depends where people were coming from and going too. I avoid the nightlinks but many younger people depend in them.


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