School bus drivers to ballot for strike action

Anton McNulty

Hundreds of schoolchildren around the county may have to find alternative transport to school after it was confirmed that school bus drivers may now join the Bus Éireann strike.
The trade union SIPTU, which represents Bus Éireann workers, announced that school bus drivers are to ballot for strike action due to ‘the threat to their jobs resulting from the wider crisis in the company’.
The decision to ballot school bus drivers came on Friday. That morning, Irish Rail customers had been left stranded by ‘wildcat’ strikes. Five trains due to run on the Westport to Dublin line were among those cancelled: The early morning 5.20am, 7.15am and 9.45am services to Dublin, and the 7.35am and 12.45pm service from Heuston Station, Dublin, to Westport.
A picket by striking Bus Éireann workers was placed outside Westport Train Station on Friday morning.
An Irish Rail spokesperson told The Mayo News that customers who bought tickets for the disrupted services will get a full refund but asked for patience and understanding in getting the refund due the volume of people affected.

School buses
The Bus Éireann strike is now its 12th day. The industrial action is over cutbacks to job, pay and bus routes, which management claims are necessary to save money as the company faces insolvency.  
The ballot among Bus Éireann school bus drivers is scheduled to be completed by April 21. If carried, families with school-going children who rely on buses would be forced to find alternative transport after the Easter holidays.
SIPTU Sector Organiser, Willie Noone, said the SIPTU National School Bus Drivers Committee decided to begin the process of balloting its members in sympathy and support of their colleagues in Bus Éireann.
“Although they are employees of Bus Éireann, these workers have to date not been party to the ongoing dispute at the company. However, it is now known that their livelihoods will also be adversely affected in the circumstances that their employer is not able to continue trading. This leaves our members with no other option but to consider industrial action to protect their jobs and the services they provide,” he said.

Chaos
Ballina-based Senator Michelle Mulherin said the bus strike was disproportionately affecting people in rural Ireland.
“As it stands the strike is causing chaos in our public transport system and is particularly difficult for rural Ireland commuters and tourists, who often have no alternatives.
“Clearly the situation and its knock-on effects are untenable, and I would encourage all stakeholders to engage urgently to play their part in finding a reasonable resolution,” she said.