Bus Eireann strike - services have resumed (Read first post)

end of the road

Konvict wrote: »

I'm supposed to be meeting up with a friend on Sun, she's coming from Rush and we're meeting in town, can you foresee any difficulties?

the problem is its hard to know, you could be effected, then again you could be fine, same for your friend

kingshankly

Konvict wrote: »

What does IE stand for? and thats a good point about the pickets. I'm supposed to be meeting up with a friend on Sun, she's coming from Rush and we're meeting in town, can you foresee any difficulties?

Train from rush and lusk

n97 mini

Patser wrote: »

I hear what you're saying and again I say we've shown that we have taken cuts and we are flexible. In terms of these proposals though they are too heavily weighted on certain groups of workers, while higher paid groups provide less.

The BE chap that was on the radio during the week seemed to hint that the next round of cuts at BE will be aimed at those.

gbob

If BE were to take all the empty buses off the road and give voluntary severence to those that wanted it then the company would make the required savings. Or simply putting a charge of one euro per pass per week would increase revenue by up to 56 million per year. But, our minister for transport has given BE an order to cut 5 million from payroll costs because he claims drivers in other eu countries are earning less, and while that may be true, we all know how comparatively expensive it is to live in Ireland these days.

Trampas

gbob wrote: »

Or simply putting a charge of one euro per pass per week would increase revenue by up to 56 million per year.

Fares have gone up recently anyway so you don't know if the extra euro a week will not drive people off the bus and thus cost the company more.

Up taxes/prices seems to be the answer to all questions when asked to unions for semi-state/public sector instead of reducing costs.

To many people have budgeted on total wage instead of basic wage.

Are bus drivers not allowed bring a packed lunch with them on the bus that they require a meal allowance?

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

hfallada

If they spread it to Dublin bus it will be very unpopular with tourist season coming up. Like the management in those companies is horrific like why wasn't the bus depots in the city centre sold during the boom and used to pay off for pension deficits and Luas etc.

ihavethepower

What about this idea, why don't the drivers do their normal shifts but not take any money in? This will mean services will run as normal, joe public will support the drivers plight and management will have to come up with a better plan. Means more footfall for buses too.

Trampas

gbob wrote: »

I realise fares are way overpriced as they are but what I'm suggesting is a one euro flat charge on free travel passes. Would solve a lot of problems for BE.

Sorry I thought you meant everyone instead of the free travel pass.

Free travel pass is another can of worms and I think should be only for OAP and restricted access people and not for social welfare

How many days do BE drivers work as I do see the same driver driving me to working and dropping me home in the evening.

Is it a case they do their hours in a 3/4 day week?

Patser

ihavethepower wrote: »

What about this idea, why don't the drivers do their normal shifts but not take any money in? This will mean services will run as normal, joe public will support the drivers plight and management will have to come up with a better plan. Means more footfall for buses too.

It was done before during a Dublin Bus strike but afterwards the company sued the Union involved saying it was an illegal industrial action and the drivers had to repay the losses through stopped wages

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=1021204&postcount=23

Trampas wrote: »

How many days do BE drivers work as I do see the same driver driving me to working and dropping me home in the evening.

Is it a case they do their hours in a 3/4 day week?

We're on a 5 day roster although some drivers volunteer to work a 6th day if it doesn't break EU driving hours and rest day rules. The computer roster system in the depots automatically red flags rosters that go over the driving hour limits. A lot of our rostered days are 12 hours long - with a maximum unpaid break of 2hrs 45 minutes in the middle. So yep, quite often I do be driving people into work and then home after their finished before heading back to depot to pay up and sign off.

Del2005

Patser wrote: »

When you talk individually about each allowance being cut and wether they're justifyable or not individually, you have to remember that all these allowances have been part of drivers' terms and conditions for a long time now, along with overtime which is still a large part of our pay package despite it's reductions over time. These proposals will take large nibbles from all these parts of a driver's pay - and again it is drivers mostly that get these allowances, we're the ones that start earliest and latest, we're the ones who work Sundays and we're the ones that do most overtime (again honourable mention to the Mechanics!). So these proposed cuts impact mostly on the Drivers' take home pay, following on from us also making most of the previous 'efficiencies'. So death by a thousand cuts or straw that broke the camels back, choose your cliche, that's why drivers are feeling put upon.

How are drivers doing so much overtime when their driving hours are so heavily regulated? If a driver can do overtime then they have driving hours left, if they have hours left they aren't being utilised correctly to begin with.

The reason why the cuts are affecting the drivers, and mechanics, most is because it'll have the biggest impact on money going out. The companies loosing a load of money so needs to go after the quickest way to save the most money. In the next round, and there will be a next round, they'll have to go after the 9-5er's.

ihavethepower wrote: »

What about this idea, why don't the drivers do their normal shifts but not take any money in? This will mean services will run as normal, joe public will support the drivers plight and management will have to come up with a better plan. Means more footfall for buses too.

The inspectors would have a field day

Patser

Del2005 wrote: »

How are drivers doing so much overtime when their driving hours are so heavily regulated? If a driver can do overtime then they have driving hours left, if they have hours left they aren't being utilised correctly to begin with.

EU tacho regulations allow for 90 hours driving over a 2 week period - so drivers can legally drive for 45 hours a week, which is above the basic paid 39 hours.

And I said coincidentally just above, it's all controlled by a rostering system as well as these days there being a much more limited overtime system.

ihavethepower

It seems to me to be a management problem, bring in interim administration like they did with quinn insurance

okiss

I know that the staff in BE don't want to work more hours or take pay cuts but the reality is the company can't afford to pay the wages they have been paying.
Also BE has had problems for a number of years which should have been looked at and dealt with before now. The reason this is now happening is the country is broke. I would agree that the people at the top of BE should be taking a decent wage cuts along with cuts to the allowances they have.

For years BE where charging very high fares but when the private bus companies came along they reduced the prices. Also once they saw a private company running a new service they started to compete with them rather than looking to the future to see where new/better services could be given to the public.

The people working for BE and the unions need to know that unless they take pay cuts ect they may not have a job in the future.
The strike will make the public use other services and long term BE could lose people who make regular journeys ie students and workers going home at the weekend. Also the longer a strike goes on the more people will use other bus services.

Passenger

The 126N Nightrider service on Saturday night runs at 12.30am and 3.30am so technically it's on Sunday morning. What are the chances of the service being affected by the strike action?

Jamie2k9

So either side won't engage and an illegal strike taking place on Sunday, unions are great in breach of the Industrial Relations Act as 7 days notice after the vote hasn't being given.

Employees have great representation from a union who supports an illegal strike and doesn't know the Industrial Relations Act but still claim its a legal strike.

gbob

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Granted, but if the general consensus is that we've all got to share the pain of this and previous governments mismanagement, then where do we draw the line?

ihavethepower wrote: »

What about this idea, why don't the drivers do their normal shifts but not take any money in? This will mean services will run as normal, joe public will support the drivers plight and management will have to come up with a better plan. Means more footfall for buses too.

That has been tried unsuccessfully in the past, but if it worked we would prefer it.

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

So either side won't engage and an illegal strike taking place on Sunday, unions are great in breach of the Industrial Relations Act as 7 days notice after the vote hasn't being given.

Employees have great representation from a union who supports an illegal strike and doesn't know the Industrial Relations Act but still claim its a legal strike.

Oh believe me the unions know the act of which you speak. They also know it is illegal for any employer to unilaterally change the terms and conditions of an employees contract without agreement. Remember if this company gets away with that then there'll be nothing stopping your company doing the very same thing.

gbob

Passenger wrote: »

The 126N Nightrider service on Saturday night runs at 12.30am and 3.30am so technically it's on Sunday morning. What are the chances of the service being affected by the strike action?

It's highly likely that stoppages will take place from midnight Saturday, however if those services are the drivers return journeys to his home depot they may operate. I know it may not be practical but keep an eye on BE's site for details.

doubletrouble?

i know alot of people are coming on basically saying the drivers should take the cuts, it's happening across all sectors etc.
people have taken cuts, but theres only so much cuts people can take.
the cost of living is not going down ,you could almost say it's going up. what is going down is wages. now if you look across the board the whole country is fed up and are at last starting to take a stand by saying enough is enough.
the unions/ staff in B.E. are no different to the people that rejected croke park ii. they have all sent the same clear message out.
no more cuts to wages.
maybe this strike is the wake up call that the whole nation needs to stand up to our thatcherite government. maybe what this country needs is an all out strike, if they bring in croke park ii without agreement this B.E. strike will be just a walk in the park/ the tip of the iceberg compared to whats coming.
everything that this government said they wouldn't do they've done. everything they said they'll do they haven't done.
you have a party thats supposed to represent the working class and all they are in reality are enda's puppets. they same party are telling the staff to takes the cuts while they promised they wouldn't bail out the banks.

as a nation we cannot take anymore hits/cuts. somewhere ,sometime the people of ireland will have to take a united stand, and do it before it's too late.
the greeks once posted a banner "we're not the irish" and we all knew what that meant when we saw it, now lets prove them wrong. whether it's B.E., the nurses ,teachers any public/private sector workers.
at last we have a group of people who are willing to stand up and fight.
berate these staff all you want but remember anyone one of you could be next.

devnull

doubletrouble? wrote: »

the cost of living is not going down ,you could almost say it's going up. what is going down is wages. now if you look across the board the whole country is fed up and are at last starting to take a stand by saying enough is enough.

You should blame the people who got us into this mess in the first place. Fianna Fail. Whichever government came in after them was going to have to balance the books, unfortunately their legacy made tough decisions all the more necessary.

In a recession wages go down and terms go down, that is the case in pretty much any major recession, just as in a boom wages will go up. I didn't see anyone turning down wage hikes in the Celtic tiger era, claiming if the economy is booming they should get a rise, by that logic when it isn't they should get a cut.

the unions/ staff in B.E. are no different to the people that rejected croke park ii. they have all sent the same clear message out.
no more cuts to wages.

Don't moan if you don't have a job at the end of it. The country cannot afford to continue to bail you out, it is not sustainable to get some of the perks you guys get in the current environment and remember you are taxpayer funded and it alienates people that their hard earned money is funding peoples clauses that they lost a long time ago. It is the job of the public sector to service the public as economically as possible.

Seeing as the conditions are so bad that they are unacceptable, if staff don't like them then why don't they go and seek a job elsewhere in the same role. Oh I forgot, because the conditions even after the cuts are still better than elsewhere

maybe this strike is the wake up call that the whole nation needs to stand up to our thatcherite government. maybe what this country needs is an all out strike, if they bring in croke park ii without agreement this B.E. strike will be just a walk in the park/ the tip of the iceberg compared to whats coming.

As someone who has family who lived in the UK during the Thatcherite years to call this anything like them is just crazy,

as a nation we cannot take anymore hits/cuts. somewhere ,sometime the people of ireland will have to take a united stand, and do it before it's too late.the greeks once posted a banner "we're not the irish" and we all knew what that meant when we saw it, now lets prove them wrong. whether it's B.E., the nurses ,teachers any public/private sector workers.

And Greece are in a much bigger crisis than we are and there is no sign of it getting any better, in fact the crisis there is far worse than in Ireland since people are just resisting anything there are riots on the street. Do you see things getting any better in Greece because people are taking a stand? They're not because people are burying their heads in the sand thinking that they can do nothing and everything will be fine.

If a country or a company is spending more money than it is bringing in that needs to addressed. The whole reason the country is in the deep mire it is in now is because that was not addressed earlier because FF were too busy trying to 'solve' the issue but just ended up deepening it because they were more interested in their own pride and the party rather than looking after the country.

gbob

devnull wrote: »

As someone who has family who lived in the UK during the Thatcherite years to call this anything like them is just crazy.

Actually I lived there during those dictatorship years, and I'd always hoped that we could have learned from their mistakes. But to see what is happening now with taxes spiralling and wages being forced down is very reminiscent of those times.

devnull

There are some big differences though, as bad as both times are/were.

Thatcher's government, which was awful for anyone but the elite, still had some kind of control over that country and had the ability to call more shots, since whilst they were in a recession at the start of her reign, it was nowhere near as deep or as hard hitting as the current on in Ireland is. The issues in that government were related to bad policy to a larger degree than outside forces or circumstances.

This country was basically going to the wall as we could not meet our obligations so we had to request financial and international assistance. Those circumstances by their very nature mean that it's always going to be a tough time for any government and such tough policies have to be brought in to get our spending back more in line since we had failed to do it ourselves and nearly rendered the country bankrupt.

At the end of the day the country is spending more than it is bringing in and that cannot be allowed to continue and workers who are having their salaries funded by taxpayers need to realise that they can't expect to have the same conditions of old. They asked for rises in the boom, but don't want to take cuts in a recession, that is called having your cake and eating it.

gbob

devnull wrote: »

At the end of the day the country is spending more than it is bringing in and that cannot be allowed to continue and workers who are having their salaries funded by taxpayers need to realise that they can't expect to have the same conditions of old. They asked for rises in the boom, but don't want to take cuts in a recession, that is called having your cake and eating it.

Yes this recession may be worse, but it's purely as a result of bad management of the boom/bust economy, and even worse decisions to bail out the banks and bondholders. This government made promises to us that they had no intention of keeping and now they're showing that they aren't able to stand up to Merkel and co.

Rises in the boom times for us equalled 2/3% pa. Less than inflation, so we were earning less than private company workers who could name any price for their labour.

But these pay cuts are not affordable, this isn't about luxuries, this is about making mortgage and car repayments, kids in college and food on the table. It's about increased taxation and fuel costs. We are as broke as everybody else !

devnull

gbob wrote: »

Yes this recession may be worse, but it's purely as a result of bad management of the boom/bust economy

Indeed and I won't disagree on that, but the fact is that Fianna Fail should have acted in 2009, but they didn't and put the party and their own self interests before the state and that is why none of my family will ever vote for them again. Sadly it seems some people in this country seem to have forgotten who it was that caused it.

Even worse decisions to bail out the banks and bondholders. This government made promises to us that they had no intention of keeping and now they're showing that they aren't able to stand up to Merkel and co

Bailing out the banks wasn't popular, but remember that the banks have the money that is in every persons bank accounts up and down the country. If they have 20Bn of peoples money on their accounts, but they only have 5Bn in cash for example because they recklessly lended money to people they should not have, then that 5bn is withdrawn by customers, what happens to the other customers that have 15bn between them in the bank, that they now cannot get out as the money is not there to give?

Rises in the boom times for us equalled 2/3% pa. Less than inflation, so we were earning less than private company workers who could name any price for their labour.

The great thing about a democratic country is that nobody forces you to work in a job that you do not like and you feel you are getting conditions you do not like. You could always leave, because after all, if the terms are so bad then it shouldn't be hard to find better ones with the private sector.

Just out of curiosity when do you define the start and the end of the boom?

But these pay cuts are not affordable, this isn't about luxuries, this is about making mortgage and car repayments, kids in college and food on the table. It's about increased taxation and fuel costs.

I know plenty of people who are earning less than the wages that are being earned by staff in Bus Eireann who have to do the same and they have to pay for their own lunch etc and cutbacks have to be made, shop at cheaper shops, go down the pub a bit less and cut back on expensive holidays etc.

Yet not so long ago a DB driver on a nitelink service I took was moaning to a colleague that if the cuts go ahead on their side he can only go on 2 foreign holidays this year rather than three. and he wouldn't be able to go to the pub twice a week.

We are as broke as everybody else !

Yet your terms and conditions are the ones that the majority of people in this country lost long ago, or never had so if you are on increased overtime rates, get paid meal vouchers and all sorts of other allowances that others do not get, then no, you are not the same as everyone else are you?

Looking at the public transport sector the wages in the three state transport companies as per their audited and published accounts are higher than an other public transport company in the country.

Is this just bus eireann or dublin bus as well?

Sierra Oscar

bluewolf wrote: »

Is this just bus eireann or dublin bus as well?

Just Bus Éireann for now, but the longer this goes on the greater the chance that it will spread throughout CIÉ.

EDIT: Tweet from Dublin Bus -

@dublinbusnews

Dublin Bus does not expect that the proposed industrial action at Bus Eireann on Sunday 12 May will affect our services.

https://twitter.com/dublinbusnews/status/333205740967841793

barry181091

Didn't read through the whole thread (A case of TL;DR :P). Anyway, what are the chances that buses will be stopped on Monday? Need to know for commuting from Limerick to Shannon. These are the times I would love a car.

stop

Sierra Oscar wrote: »

Just Bus Éireann for now, but the longer this goes on the greater the chance that it will spread throughout CIÉ.

EDIT: Tweet from Dublin Bus -



https://twitter.com/dublinbusnews/status/333205740967841793

Do Dublin Bus not share facilities at Broadstone?

gbob

devnull wrote: »

Indeed and I won't disagree on that, but the fact is that Fianna Fail should have acted in 2009, but they didn't and put the party and their own self interests before the state and that is why none of my family will ever vote for them again. Sadly it seems some people in this country seem to have forgotten who it was that caused it.



Bailing out the banks wasn't popular, but remember that the banks have the money that is in every persons bank accounts up and down the country. If they have 20Bn of peoples money on their accounts, but they only have 5Bn in cash for example because they recklessly lended money to people they should not have, then that 5bn is withdrawn by customers, what happens to the other customers that have 15bn between them in the bank, that they now cannot get out as the money is not there to give?



The great thing about a democratic country is that nobody forces you to work in a job that you do not like and you feel you are getting conditions you do not like. You could always leave, because after all, if the terms are so bad then it shouldn't be hard to find better ones with the private sector.

Just out of curiosity when do you define the start and the end of the boom?



I know plenty of people who are earning less than the wages that are being earned by staff in Bus Eireann who have to do the same and they have to pay for their own lunch etc and cutbacks have to be made, shop at cheaper shops, go down the pub a bit less and cut back on expensive holidays etc.

Yet not so long ago a DB driver on a nitelink service I took was moaning to a colleague that if the cuts go ahead on their side he can only go on 2 foreign holidays this year rather than three. and he wouldn't be able to go to the pub twice a week.



Yet your terms and conditions are the ones that the majority of people in this country lost long ago, or never had so if you are on increased overtime rates, get paid meal vouchers and all sorts of other allowances that others do not get, then no, you are not the same as everyone else are you?

Looking at the public transport sector the wages in the three state transport companies as per their audited and published accounts are higher than an other public transport company in the country.

DB work under domestic driving regulations and are therefore able to work far more overtime than BE drivers, and do earn considerably more.

I personally dont work Sundays or do unscheduled overtime because my rostered shift is far more unsociable than I'd like and I prefer to spend as much time as I can with my family. As for the pub, my average is four times a year, and my only holiday was a Christmas present from my son. As I said, I'm not trying to protect luxuries.

I will concede that a paid meal allowance was a foreign concept to me, and wouldn't object to loosing it.

gbob

stop wrote: »

Do Dublin Bus not share facilities at Broadstone?

Yes, and at other locations they share facilities with IE.. there has been strong rumours that picket lines at these locations will not be crossed.

j8wk2feszrnpao

ProudDUB wrote: »

Ok, open declaration time. I am the daughter of a man who worked for one of the semi state transport companies all of his working life. I have the greatest respect for the people like him, who worked shift work, on weekends, bank holidays, often outdoors in all kinds of weather and hazardous situations. I think that people who work largely 9-5 office jobs don't realize the stresses that having a job like than have have on an individual and families involved. They earn their money. Every single penny of it.

That being said, I honestly think that some of the people on here live on a different planet to me. Sunday pay, meal allowances, getting pissed off at being asked to work a 39 hour week. On what planet can people possibly be living on, if they think that it ok to go on strike to protect things that folks like me, who are on a salaried job in the private sector, or who are self employed, would never in a million years get to enjoy? And oh yeah, they want me to fund it too. WTF? In this day and age, how is that ok or fair?

In over 20 years in the work force, I have never had an employer pay for the food that I consume during the course of a working day. Never. Not once. I am lucky if I only have to work 45 hrs a week. Normally it's closer to 50. If I ever work a 36 hours week, is because I took a day off, or I was sick. Don't even get me started on what what reaction my boss would give me if I told him I wanted additional pay to work on weekends. Seriously folks, it feels like I am speaking a different language to what others here are speaking when it comes to working condition that we feel that we are "entitled" to.

I fully agree with you on all of the above.

So much money continues to be wasted in the public sector. We have cut the small fee that special needs carers get, and yet pubic money is used to subsidize a small sectors food allowance (something that they can well afford themselves considering their pay). This is as bad as the money wasted paying back the bond holders.

There's a sector of people (both public and private) where the term 'entitlement' has become their catch phrase.
There are people in this country that are unable to take care of themselves either through illness or circumstance. In the Ireland I want to live in, these are the people that are entitled to assistance and my tax money.

Unfortunately there are people who don't appreciate what they have and want regular 'Joe Public' to fund their pay/income/allowance even if they are too lazy/non-motivated/big-headed/self-centered to make the effort for themselves.

The problems of the country start at the top. Our political leaders don't lead by example. They have huge wages, large allowances, massive pensions, and all this for a few years work in a lot of cases. When workers (both state and private) see the greed and how money is wasted at the top, is it any wonder that even in our worse crisis we can't make the required changes.

[Steve]

The timing for this strike isn't the best at all. Many students, including myself have exams from Monday next week. Hopefully this is a one day thing.

I only really care if Route 360 is affecting by the strike. Also, will JJ Kavanagh be picking up people from Bus Eireann routes if the strike continues into monday? If so, hows the ticket price going to work out, I don't want to be ripped off because of a strike.

schemingbohemia

[Steve] wrote: »

The timing for this strike isn't the best at all. Many students, including myself have exams from Monday next week. Hopefully this is a one day thing.

I only really care if Route 360 is affecting by the strike. Also, will JJ Kavanagh be picking up people from Bus Eireann routes if the strike continues into monday? If so, hows the ticket price going to work out, I don't want to be ripped off because of a strike.

JJ Kavanaghs like all other licensed operators can put on auxiliary services on their own routes or apply for temporary licences for other routes?, was done for the ash cloud and malahide viaduct disruptions.

Ticket wise I'd say they'd charge their normal prices.

Mrs OBumble

BenShermin wrote: »

How will this effect GoBÉ services?

They're a totally different company, so not part of the dispute.

But they have been using BÉ's stations. So GoBus tweeted an hour ago that all

• Cork to Dublin services will now depart from Merchants Quay (in Cork), and
• Dublin to Cork services will depart from Goerges Quay (in Dublin)

RubyXI

Does the strike include cork city buses?

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

joegriffinjnr

How about cross border services that are jointly operated with Ulsterbus? Will Ulsterbus still operate their services?

Shane.C

Galway services all to a standstill also? Galway to Sligo route in particular?

Trampas

List of routes disrupted

http://www.buseireann.ie/news.php?id=1296&month=May

devnull

Maybe another thread should be started for people to ask for advice of how to get from A to B and what is effected since I guess there are going to be a lot of requests for this kind of thing as people are going to be stuck.

I see Joe Higgins has had his say, seems more concerned with getting the strike to run for as long as possible rather than to get some settlement for the staff, that kind of attitude really angers me, it's worse than both sides in the dispute.

There are clear signs the company wants to cut across the effectiveness of the action by using private coach firms to scab,

An urgent practical discussion is needed involving the Bus Eireann workers on the ground with support from the wider trade union movement and sympathetic working people who oppose austerity about what kind of protest action is needed to disrupt strike breaking efforts.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/bus-eireann-workers-prepare-for-strike-action-594111.html

Patser

Yep, it's one of the big things worrying me - can't speak for other drivers but I'd say a fair few feel the same - that this strike is now well beyond a simple industrial dispute and is now a political football, way out of our control. I've said before that us drivers are well aware we'll have to take a hit, we just wanted it spread out more fairly, hitting everyone more evenly and that's why we wanted negotiation. Now however we're the test case for Croke Park 2, an example to be made of, the start of resistance to austerity, the troika - take your pick of political buzz words here - depending on what commentator or interest group you hear. I can tell you now in the week building up to this no-one in tge depots was talking about austerity, IMF or the likes.

Not happy about suddenly being poster boys for the resistance, I/we're not pretty enough, we're just looking for a fairer spread of the pain.

howiya

Patser wrote: »

Not happy about suddenly being poster boys for the resistance, I/we're not pretty enough, we're just looking for a fairer spread of the pain.

Can I ask where you think this pain should be spread and who should be included?

kildarecommuter

howiya wrote: »

Can I ask where you think this pain should be spread and who should be included?

Not connected with Bus Eireann but I would imagine senior management and why do the 3 CIE group company's all need their own PR team surely they could share !

Patser

howiya wrote: »

Can I ask where you think this pain should be spread and who should be included?

IMO - and I stress this is my opinion alone - cuts should be made to core wages across the board to variable degrees. The current proposed cuts to allowances affect only drivers' and mechanics wages and to different levels.

Using myself as an example, on my roster I don't work Sundays, don't work expressway services, have very few shift allowances - so the cuts don't actually hit me that much - overtime is the main hit. In comparison drivers that work Sundays (majority), work shifts, are covering outbased depots will be down an awful lot more. And again in contrast Management take home pay is unaffected. Not exactly fair. So IMO cut everyone's basic to some degree so we're all down a similar amount.

Also implement a root and branch review of services and schedules. There is still a huge amount of over-scheduling on some routes, duplication on others (2 buses same time) and drivers being rostered as spare - ie hang around to cover 'just in case' scenarios.

Leverarchfile

godtabh wrote: »

Sack them all. Fold BE. Tender a private operator to replace them ala the RPA/Luas and interview new drivers/drivers who will accept a sustainable wage and conditions.

And what happens to them when they realise they are being shafted, and they decide to stand up for their employment rights ?

Leverarchfile

Trampas wrote: »

List of routes disrupted

http://www.buseireann.ie/news.php?id=1296&month=May

For some reason Co. Donegal seems to be the only place drivers are not going on strike yet. Maybe the news has not reached them up there.

Patser

Leverarchfile wrote: »

For some reason Co. Donegal seems to be the only place drivers are not going on strike yet. Maybe the news has not reached them up there.

I'd assume it's more that McGinley's who share some services with BE up there are working. Their owner was on the news yesterday saying they'd a few extra buses available to help cover a few extra services than normal.

seekers

Not in favour of the RPA solution. The country spending millions on a project and handing it all over to private international company to do with it as they wish

bk

seekers wrote: »

Not in favour of the RPA solution. The country spending millions on a project and handing it all over to private international company to do with it as they wish

and ending up with the best run public transport system in the country and profitable too !!

n97 mini

Patser wrote: »

I'd assume it's more that McGinley's who share some services with BE up there are working.

It would be interesting to compare pay and conditions.