Bus drivers in Galway refused to pass the picket placed by train signalmen at Iarnrod Eireann, leaving passengers stranded without notice all over the city yesterday.
There was no warning given to management or even SIPTU officials that bus drivers would be supporting their union colleagues in their one-day work stoppage. The city was left without both a bus and rail service as a result of the unofficial support action taken by SIPTU and NBU. Bus Eireann inter-city express services were also affected.
There were no trains out of or into Galway as a result of the strike. The only public transport service was being provided by two private bus operators.
Bus drivers who arrived for work early yesterday refused to pass the pickets on the three entrances shared by the bus and rail depots at Ceannt Station.
A Bus Eireann spokesman for Bus Eireann management said they were taken by surprise by the work stoppage and he apologised to passengers who were left stranded.
A SIPTU union official said they too had been taken by surprise by their bus-driver members.
