Northern Ireland's striking busmen last night pledged further disruption of transport services in a continuing dispute.
As drivers faced pressure to consider calling off their action, union leaders confirmed that further one-day strikes would take place in pursuit of their pay claim. After the failure of its High Court attempt to block the strikes, Translink management has insisted it will not engage in further talks while stoppages continue.
Even though up to 200,000 people were affected by yesterday's stoppages, road organisations confirmed there was not the chaos they had anticipated in Belfast and throughout the rest of Northern Ireland. The busmen are due to strike again on the final two Fridays of October, before twice-weekly stoppages begin on November 7th and 10th.
Mr John Coffey, of the Transport and General Workers' Union, said further strikes would take place unless management made the drivers a new offer. He said drivers' wages were 17 per cent behind the average earnings of manual workers. "Management say they will not speak to us while the strike is ongoing, but they've had at least five months to sort this out and they haven't done it," he said.
"They are prepared to spend a fortune in the High Court to get the strike called off but they won't give drivers a fair deal. Today is the first of three consecutive Fridays when drivers will be striking and after that we will stop work on Fridays and Mondays indefinitely." All Citybus and Ulsterbus services were off the road yesterday across 300 Translink routes, affecting about 180,000 passengers including 65,000 schoolchildren. Police opened bus lanes to motorists to ease traffic congestion, and commuters were urged to share cars.
Hundreds of drivers manned pickets at bus depots as commuters made alternative arrangements to get to work and take their children to school.
Drivers, who earn a basic salary of around £13,500 topped up by overtime pay of around £5,000, had turned down a 3.5 per cent pay rise offer from Translink. A revised offer of 5.7 per cent, with an extra day off and "minor restructuring" to working practices, was also rejected. The TGWU and GMB unions pointed out that an EU directive will also reduce drivers' overtime, affecting their earnings.
An eleventh-hour attempt by Translink to have the 24-hour strike declared illegal failed in the High Court in Belfast on Thursday after four hours of legal argument. A Translink spokesman, Mr Ciaran Rogan, apologised to passengers, saying they had been "badly let down" by the drivers' strike. - (PA)