Bus strike

Cupcakes

Hi, can anyone tell me if there will be a bus strike on monday? Tks

KC61

No we can't because the talks are still ongoing.

Unless the company unilaterally implements their plan without union agreement, there ought not to be a strike.

However, it really depends on the talks.

glossy

KC61 wrote: »

No we can't because the talks are still ongoing.

Unless the company unilaterally implements their plan without union agreement, there ought not to be a strike.

However, it really depends on the talks.

hows the talks going on. is it looking like a yes or maybe or a no ????

karl75

its looking like an all out strike as dublin bus dont seem to be budging on their proposals so if they implement their new timetalbe which is a laugh on sunday yes their will be no buses im a driver i dont want to strike but what dublin bus want us to lose is far too much between 100-200euros no way their way out of line

SickCert

I got my Sunday restday on the old bills so no change for the coming week so far. Been told more talks on Monday.

Stark

karl75 wrote: »

its looking like an all out strike as dublin bus dont seem to be budging on their proposals so if they implement their new timetalbe which is a laugh on sunday yes their will be no buses im a driver i dont want to strike but what dublin bus want us to lose is far too much between 100-200euros no way their way out of line

I'm not sure of the particulars because your post is fairly incoherent but you need a lot more than "we'll make less money, waah" to gain sympathy these days.

SickCert

Bus strike threat fades as job talks resume

By Anne-Marie Walsh Industry Correspondent

Saturday March 07 2009

THE threat of strikes at Dublin Bus and Bus Eireann has been lifted until the middle of next week as talks resume over plans to axe over 600 jobs.

Negotiations between SIPTU, the National Bus and Rail Union and management adjourned yesterday for the weekend and will resume on Monday.

The further suspension of action -- which had been deferred until tomorrow -- came as Dublin Bus advertised for a transport consultant to implement a review of its services in line with last year's Deloitte and Touche report.

The contentious report found that the Dublin Bus network is "overly complex with a significant amount of service duplication". It recommended that the service be radically reformed to make it easier to use. Unions yesterday agreed to suspend strike action beyond Sunday while talks continue.

Cutbacks

Management at the two CIE subsidiaries have agreed they will not implement cutbacks that will lead to over 600 job losses and a 10pc reduction in the fleet during talks.

Bus Eireann is not currently in negotiation with the National Bus and Rail Union, which has served it with notice of industrial action, but has deferred the implementation of its cutbacks during the Dublin Bus talks.

Last night, Labour Relations Commission Deputy Director of Conciliation Service, Tom Pomfret, said that "small progress" was made at talks but there was no breakthrough on the issue of part-time work.

Talks reached an impasse on Thursday when the company indicated it could only offer two days' work a week to 160 drivers it plans to sack. This would mean they would be on social welfare three days a week.

SIPTU told members in a notice that it would not accept the weekend work proposal, to which it was "implacably opposed", and would fight for full-time jobs.

The union has put forward a plan that would mean over 400 drivers who are currently not permitted to work weekends, would be allowed to, and all drivers would remain full time.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/bus-strike-threat-fades-as-job-talks-resume-1664592.html

RadioCity

I'm not sure how this would go down but here goes (most of this refers to drivers)

-Personally I would sweep out much of the management and put someone without an agenda at the top and knows what they're doing. The aim should be to provide high quality, attractive and sustainable forms of transport across the Capital and Country. This person would then answer to the Minister for Transport. (Is there such a thing as a Minister Against Transport?)

-Put a freeze on driver recruitment for about 2 years

-Immediate route modernisation in Dublin with new marketing intiatives and even frequencies provided on all routes the timetabling of which are currently a mess. This should involve working with the Luas, possible splitting of some cross city routes which are notably unreliable (83) and revision/removal of some parts of routes where loadings are poor, for example the 121. Balancing out of two infrequent services working on the same base route to provide more regular services, for example 44's and 48A together providing a 15 minute frequency to/from Dundrum and Sandyford area.

-Come to an arrangement an hourly rate for drivers with a pay deal for about the next three years with each of the years' rises fixed, with an agreement to increase wages should the rate of inflation (or indeed profits) exceed an agreed level.
To go a step further on this issue, I would suggest reducing the hourly rate. For example if the hourly rate is €15.00, I'd reduce that rate to €13.00 and ONLY if a driver completes all rostered hours that week they get a "bonus" of €2.00 per hour for every hour worked, worth about €80 a week. (Just watch the number of "sick" calls plummet)

-Agree on a "week's work" should be in terms of hours. For example the companies will pay all full time drivers a minimum of 38 hours for a week's work. In BÉ this could be easily done in 4 days on some long distance work.

-Look carefully at part time work. The Unions and Companies should agree that the total number of part time drivers should never exceed a certain percentage of total number of staff. Also agree on what part time actually means in terms of hours payable (20-25?). No current driver should be forced into part time work. When recruitment re-commences drivers could start on a PT basis before moving to FT, subject to available vacancies.

-Saturday,Sunday and Public Holiday pay rates need to be closely looked at. I cannot see how they are sustainable and would need to be reviewed, with the view to getting the best deal for drivers whilst being both practical and sustainable to the companies.

-Have further incentives for drivers, for example an extra week's holiday after a certain level of service has been attained (maybe this is already done)

-Linking of 2 Garages together for practical reasons. For example Summerhill would become "sub-depot" of Harristown and each other could more practically operate each others routes eliminating much dead mileage.

-If the companies agree to cost reducing measures they should be free from political interference to make improvents/reductions to certain services.

Personally, I believe DB/BE management have much to answer for the state they find themselves in. They have allowed routes to stagnate down the years and never bothered to modernise routes as demographics changed. Indeed there have been many frequent new services introduced; 140, 145, 151 etc but adjacent services were never simultaneously reviewed to provide "in between" departures. Timetables inevitably became messy and cluttered with footnotes with timetable modification after modification, the 44 and 185 are two prime examples.

I should also add, if management cannot bring their service up to an acceptable level their jobs should be put on the line. DB and BE are so full of talented people at every level whose voices need to be heard. There is no reason why managing/cleaning/maintaining/supervising/driving buses shouldn't be a job to put a bit of pride into. I know I do!

Flukey

What Dublin Bus needs to do is improve the bus service. It is much improved in recent years but there are still gaping and blatant holes that continue to be ignored. Filling a few of them in would help.

A good example is a recent experience of mine. Last Sunday morning, shortly before 9am I saw a women standing at a bus stop near my home. I told her that there was no point waiting there as the next - and first - bus wasn't due for another hour and a half. I advised her to go to the nearby Luas stop, where a service was already running for over two hours.

An hour later I headed up to the Luas myself as I needed to get into the city and although I am a regular bus user, as the first bus was still not due for another half an hour, this was my only option. When I got to the stop there were some passengers waiting, and more came along in the following minutes before the tram arrived. More and more got on as the journey progressed, a journey that spent some of its time within walking distance of the bus route I would have got into the city.

So we have the Luas starting at 6:45am on a Sunday morning and a nearby bus route not making its first entry to our transport system until 10:30am. Madness!!! Sunday morning buses wouldn't be standing room only of course, but there are a lot of passengers out there that would use the service, if one was provided.

There are plenty of other examples, like how Dublin Bus brings thousands of people all around the city on weekend nights, and then abandons them completely for an hour before returning with a very limited service, while there are still many potential passengers, as the long queues at taxi ranks full of people that probably got a bus to their destination earlier that night and wanting to return to where they started, proves. It is a bit like a café deciding to close every day for lunch. It's a radical idea, maybe never thought of before, but maybe Dublin Bus should do something to help their situation: Provide a bus service when there are people there that would use it!!!

AlekSmart

Personally, I believe DB/BE management have much to answer for the state they find themselves in. They have allowed routes to stagnate down the years and never bothered to modernise routes as demographics changed. Indeed there have been many frequent new services introduced; 140, 145, 151 etc but adjacent services were never simultaneously reviewed to provide "in between" departures. Timetables inevitably became messy and cluttered with footnotes with timetable modification after modification, the 44 and 185 are two prime examples.

Some well made points there Radio City,but the issue of the "New" routes is of central importance to the current impasse.

Subsequent to the long delayed introduction of the 100 EXTRA Buses and associated Staff we found ourselves with the above "New" routes to which can be added the 4,74 and 128.

So we have a significant tranche of new and popular direct routes ALL of which were only sanctioned by the Department of Transport AFTER Dublin Bus management had supplied a FULL business plan in relation to what it was going to do with it`s windfall.

It remains highly unlikely that the Department was unaware of the concerns which subsequently materialised in the Deloitte Report so why did it facilitate and even encourage this particular methodology of utilizing the NEW Buses.

Why also did the Department of Transport so resolutely resist the utilization of the Port Tunnel by Dublin bus when it opened.

Then we have the continuing saga of the Route 141 application made in the light of a REQUIREMENT to maximise useage of QBC resources...still no decision on this one it seems.

Additionally there are incidences throughout Dublin where improvements or alterations to The Bus Service have been frustrated by Departmental inactivity or byzantine decision making.

it is highly frustrating to see the Company and it`s Staff being somehow blamed for implementing Routes and Strategies which came directly from the Department itself in the immediate run up to Mr Dempsey declaring himself "Suspicious" of Dublin Bus`s Resource Utilization,something which oddly enough Deloitte were unable to actually find much evidence to support.

There are also continuing doubts in my mind as to the ethical issues raised by the Minister For Transport having direct input into signifigant Road Building and Operation issues such as PPP Road Tolling whilst retaining responsibility for Public Transport Provision whose success depends to a large extent on frustrating the ever upward unrestricted expansion of Private Car useage.

The Minister appears in the Media spouting all sorts of PR puff about "Encouraging" 500,000 people to Transfer from Private Car use to Other "Sustainable" methods including IMPROVED Public Transport.

Then with a quick costume change the SAME Minister for Transport sits down and negotiates Major PPP Toll Road construction projects the success of which depend to a great extent on the provision of a steady uninterrupted flow of......Private Cars to fund.

There is a clear conflict of ethos here,if not self interest,and I believe that the current thrust to destabilize the CIE Public Road Transport operations is in furtherance of a far greater goal most definitely NOT in the public interest.

Sadly however nobody appears to be too keen to drag the Minister into the bear pit for a scuffle,instead we have the old style knockdown Union/Management stuff which is largely inconsequential as the Minister call the shots anyway.

Conspiracy theory.....U bet ur sweet Bippy !!!!! :P

Cleopatra12

Word is out... Dublin Bus talks have concluded.....BE negotiations to resume shortly.

So what i have heard is that the 48 hr week has been put to side for the mo as ther were no developments with it at all. The 160 unappointed drivers are to be put on a 4 day week and vol severence is going to be offered for 80 senior drivers.

Document is due to be circulated and balloted on....