We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
BUS ÉIREANN WORKERS from the Siptu and Unite trade unions have voted to accept Labour Court recommendations aimed at resolving a long running dispute in the company.
Bus Éireann has been in turmoil in recent months as company management desperately tried to shore up losses at the State-run bus service. Management had warned that the company could be insolvent by the summer.
Widespread changes to employees’ pay and conditions resulted in a strike which lasted three weeks and shut down the bus service across the country. The strike was suspended to allow for balloting on the Labour Court recommendations.
Siptu workers voted by a close margin (53.4% to 46.6%) in favour of the recommendations, with 87% of members voting.
National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU) workers are still being balloted, with the results expected next week.
Commenting on the ballot, Siptu sector organiser Willie Noone said accepting the recommendations was a “pragmatic” decision by workers, as they would have “huge cultural, structural and financial implications” for all the staff.
“Our union will fully expect the company to honour fully those aspects of the recommendation which affect workers’ conditions in a positive way,” he said.
Siptu representatives will also ensure that the recommendation is not used as an avenue to extract other cuts which are not included in it.
He said any need to involve school bus drivers or Dublin Bus or Irish Rail workers in the industrial action “has now abated”.
Workers ware angry with the company and with transport minister Shane Ross, Noone added.
Unite’s Willie Quigley said that workers may have felt that they had “no option but to accept highly unpalatable measures”.
“Our members are picking up the tab for a financial crisis not of their making,” said Quigley.
Now, the focus must be on mapping a sustainable road forward for Ireland’s public transport system in general and Bus Éireann in particular.
Both Quigley and Noone said their unions would take part in a stakeholder forum to deal with issues that arose in the dispute.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
“Our members are picking up the tab for a financial crisis not of their making,” said Quigley” quote from Noone. The average sick days are four times that if any other bus company forcing extra drivers to be hired. There hadn’t been a single issue raised that hasn’t been in some way caused by the drivers unwillingness to work for a fair wage for the hours contracted. This is a slap in the face to those of us who work hard for what we earn
ChuckE is a corporate bootlicker, happy to work longer hours for less money in worse conditions. The fact that someone would receive things like sick days, or holidays, or breaks offends him. Trust him to stand up and defend big corporations from the working class.
@ChuckE: Well it wasn’t of Minister Shane Ross’s making either, but if he has any sense he will now put the boot into Bus Eireann and introduce measures to bring it into the 21st century. Start by building a new Busarus in Blanchardstown and create a link rapid rail system into the city centre. Reduce the number of buses in the city to link up with the Luas and Dart network.
@JayK:
Maybe he works where it is possible to actually loose your job?
@ChuckE: What work do you do and what do you earn ?
Whilst BE management clearly have made a dogs dinner if the company, the biggest culprits in this dispute are the Unions, Siptu and Unite, who in the face of declining Union power, tried to make a bid for public glory, assuming the State would step in, only to march their members all the way to the top of the hill with promises of a fools gold and then march them the way down again with their tails firmly between their legs, with a settlement which is far less than what was in the table before the strike ever started.
The strike leaves the company on verge of bankruptcy and unlikely to survive.
@Martin Fahy:
We can only hope that’s the case. We need a new leaner BE to emerge from the ashes, with brand new shining contracts for the drivers.
@Fred Jensen: No we don’t, what is needed is a review of all transport into Dublin and reduce diesel air pollution in urban areas
Thank you Shane Ross. A solid performance. Best thing you can do with these Trotskys is ignore them for long enough until reality hits them in the face.
@Fred Jensen: Shane Ross Hasn’t has a solid performance in his life !
I would not join a Union for love or money..Complete waste of time..Please look at what the top union brass earn compared to their members…Animal farm stuff
http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/im-alright-jack-union-chiefs-live-the-high-life-28812956.html
A complete waste of time. What have unions ever done for us? Apart from a weekend, paid lunch breaks, any breaks at all, a minimum wage, 8-hour work days, a 40-hour work week, paid holidays, paid sick leave, overtime pay, retirement, pensions, health and safety legislation, protections for the sick or pregnant, workers comp, employment contracts, unemployment insurance, redundency payments, an end to child labour and indentured servitude, workplace equality, the right to strike.
Apart from that? Nothing. Complete waste of time.
@JayK: don’t need a union,a good solicitor in European employment law far better more educated
@JayK: unions are the very very reason incompetent is tolerated in the public sector, or why 9 council workers arrived out to connect a lead pipe replacement recently, and 4 of them sat in the van after the 9am tea break when they arrived.
In no other walk of life would such laziness and waste be tolerated.
Well done Shane Ross!!!!
@John Weldon: For what ? Only thing he has ever done is get the Garda station opened in stepaside !!
@JJ Sharkey:
One of those occasions where doing nothing has earned him a lot of votes.
53% realised they would be claiming the dole by the end of the year if they didn’t accept the offer on the table.
Nobs
Hard to believe that 13% didn’t vote
@Nick Allen: They were out sick!
Funny how the trolls are still not happy here. If the staff accepted the deal the trolls here would complain, if they rejected the deal it the trolls here would complain.
“That’s the standard technique of privatization: defund, make sure things don’t work, people get angry, you hand it over to private capital.” Shane Ross or was it Noam Chomsky
@JJ Sharkey: for trolls read anyone not agreeing with you. Bus Eireann management AND unions combined poor decision-making into an art that put in place driver pay structures 40% higher than private companies. The constant whinging of unions throughout the strike for ‘all stakeholders’ to get involved was embarrassing and was seen for what it was – bring taxpayers chequebook to put public money directly into already overpaid drivers’ personal pockets. Good for Shane Ross sticking it to them. Overpaid, out of touch with reality prima-donnas, they got s taste of real-world reality. Poor mites.
Cant see NBRU backing.
@Paul:
You could well be right, it would only take a 4% swing from the figures above for it to be rejected.
Things could get nasty then.
Public bus users strike now.
Stick with the buses who looked after you during the strike,
@Stouts O Shea:
BE’s passenger numbers a month before the strike and a month after could make interesting reading if you could get them.
One of many examples of Unions being let run a company into the ground. Only A few weeks since they were making all sorts of threats and wouldn’t accept this that or the other. Nowhere to go now, they’ve to take their medicine and look like fools having to accept these recommendations or the company goes bust. Staff led up the garden path for 3 weeks out in the cold. You got to love solidarity!
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say