DUBLIN BUS WORKERS will be balloted for industrial action, following what they claim is a breach of their pay agreement.

The National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU) said that option to make pay increases pensionable was meant to come into effect from the 1 February, as promised in a document approved by the Workplace Relations Commission.

Dublin Bus has looked for a month’s extension to this, meaning workers represented by the NBRU could vote to go on strike.

The bus and rail union general secretary Dermot O’Leary said that this, coupled with officials “travelling around the country, from depot-to-depot, telling people that the cuts must come in or else the company will disappear” were taken as acts of intimidation.

The ballot will take place on Thursday 16 and Friday 17 February at all Dublin Bus depots.

Bus Éireann

Bus Éireann drivers are also set to go on strike in two weeks’ time after members voted to strike against pay conditions; while the company’s management says that it’s on the brink of liquidation and that pay cuts are necessary.

Transport Minister Shane Ross has said the government don’t have the funds to get involved to resolve the Bus Éireann dispute.

Read: Bus Éireann workers to go on all-out strike (and there’s no end date)

Read: Ross urges unions and Bus Éireann to start negotiations with ‘a blank sheet of paper’