Dublin Bus Strike

M

mo3art

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*Mo gets up on her high horse*

Dublin bus proposes to implement Working Time Act legislation, belatedly and limit their employees to working a maximum of 48 hours per week. The NBRU (national bus & rail union) have voted by a massive majority to implement industrial action as Dublin Bus will not be increasing their basic wage to compensate employees for the reduced amount of overtime they can now earn.

First of all, Dublin Bus does not compel their employees to work any overtime, it is possible to work all year through without working an hour's overtime at all. You are not penalised for this.

IMHO working overtime is a conscious choice that employees have to make for themselves - particularly in Dublin Bus, it's not as if the company has requested that the drivers work all these extra hours that they are presently doing.

One has to question the safety factor of professional bus drivers driving buses for longer than 48 hours a week. How much longer do they have to commute to get to and from work? How can we be sure that they have had sufficient rest times? Undoubtedly, lack of rest & adequate sleep will lead to a loss of concentration on the road. I would see the reduction in the amount of hours that the bus drivers can work as a positive move for all drivers on the road as a whole.

Dublin Bus pays their bus drivers well over the national minimum wage. The majority of bus drivers would actually earn over the average industrial wage. Now we, the taxpayer, are expected to pay Dublin Bus drivers extra so that they can be safe on the roads? Sorry, maybe I didn't phrase that correctly! What I'm trying to say is that we are now going to be held to ransom because they won't get as much overtime!

Please let me know I haven't lost the run of myself!

*Mo gets back down off her high horse*

(Disclaimer - A number of my family members do work for Dublin Bus, but I do not agree with the move by the NBRU. It is for this reason that i would quite well informed on Dublin Bus working practices, pay etc.)
 
It is clear that the Dublin Bus company is compelled to introduce the 48 hour week by EU directives. They say that they have to employ additional staff to cover the overage rather than pay overtime to existing staff, so can't pay any "compensation" to existing staff.

I think the only thing wrong here is that it doesn't look like this has been debated enough with the unions before going ahead.

The unions in Ireland are not known for their reasonableness or willingness to embrace change or 21st century work practices.

It will be a real pain in the derrière to have the buses on strike coming up to Xmas.
 
They will actually save money by employing more drivers rather than paying the overtime rates.

Overtime rates can be as much as 4 times the hourly pay in some cases. If they employ a regular driver on his hours then it's cheaper!
 
Hence the 20 new buses in transport 21. The government know they are only supporting a monopoly if they buy new buses. It is a terrible shame the way the government bends over for the unions in this country. Though Bertie appears to like the big union stick in his behind.
 
shnaek said:
Hence the 20 new buses in transport 21. The government know they are only supporting a monopoly if they buy new buses.
Click to expand...
If you think 20 new buses (about 9 million out of a 34 billion spend) represents 'support', I'd hate to think what happens when they stop 'supporting' the one approach that has brought about immediate improvements at negligible cost (i.e. bus lanes).
 
Funnily enough, Dublin Bus are the only profit making member of the CIE Group. Whilst it is a small profit (I believe it is in the region of €1 million annually), it will be interesting to see what their profit margin is when the working time regulations are enacted!
 
RainyDay said:
If you think 20 new buses (about 9 million out of a 34 billion spend) represents 'support', I'd hate to think what happens when they stop 'supporting' the one approach that has brought about immediate improvements at negligible cost (i.e. bus lanes).
Click to expand...

The point is that 20 buses is not support, and there are suggestions that is what the Government intended, i.e. less buses for Dublin Bus implies that there is greater scope to increase the number private operators offering services, a move currently resisted by Dublin Bus.

As a matter of interest, any statistics on how bus lanes have made immediate improvements at negligible cost?
 
If there is a case for the NBRU claim that they should be compensated for the loss of overtime as a result of the implementation of the working time directive (and I don't think there is) why should it be Dublin Bus who has to answer it? This is a circumstance imposed by a third party on the bus company. If someone has to cough up it should be the EU, not the employer. What mechanism has the union proposed should be used to pay for these pay raises? Paying overtime is cheaper than employing more drivers because in unionised monopolies the tail wags the dog and labour cannot be cut or moved efficiently to answer changes in demand.
This situation would never arise in the real world of the manufacturing or internationally traded sectors of the economy. The only thing they will be asked to do is foot the bill.
 
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