Bus routes face 24-hour strikes as Go-Ahead drivers vote for action

Drivers at Go-Ahead, a company that operates a number of bus services in the Dublin area, are to take strike action at the start of March.

Siptu, which represents drivers at the company, says its members are to stage two 24-hour stoppages on March 1st and 8th, both Wednesdays, with the firm’s depots at Ballymount in Dublin and Naas to be picketed.

The union says Go-Ahead has refused “to engage through the normal agreed process in talks concerning an increase in pay for our members to take account of the impact of the cost-of-living crisis”.

“In the ballot, an overwhelming majority voted for industrial action if management continued to refuse to engage on the issue of pay,” said Siptu’s John Murphy.

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“Following this vote, management did agree to attend talks at the Workplace Relations Commission. However, at these talks it refused to engage on the pay issue separately to other matters. We then referred the dispute to the Labour Court, which the company is now refusing to attend.”

The union contends that the company has agreed pay increases at its operation in the UK that are in line with inflation and Siptu says it wants a similar deal here.

In a statement Go-Ahead said it is “aware of the proposed stoppages by Siptu in March. The company has engaged with the union via the appropriate channels and has confirmed in writing to the Workplace Relations Commission and Siptu as recently as the 3rd February that it is willing to jointly refer any of the union’s claims to the Labour Court to seek a resolution. While we understand this is an ongoing process, we remain committed to positive and proactive engagement with all stakeholders.”

Go-Ahead employs roughly 300 staff in Ireland and operates more than 20 Dublin suburban routes previously run by Dublin Bus and around half a dozen that it took over from Bus Éireann.

A pay deal at Dublin Bus worth 15.5 per cent over five years backdated to the start of 2021 was narrowly passed in a ballot of its 2,600 drivers last August with 50.6 per cent voting in favour in Siptu and NBRU ballots.

That deal provided for a number of changes to work practices aimed at allowing the flexibility the company said was necessary for the introduction of the Bus Connects programme.