Christopher McKinley
In anticipation of possible strike action tomorrow Dublin Bus have announced that no Nitelink services will operate toninght.
In a statement on Twitter the company said that ?due to probable industrial action (whereby) services may not operate tomorrow, no Nitelink services will operate tonight?.
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The announcement comes after Siptu transport organiser, Willie Noone, said it?s now ?99 per cent certain? that Dublin Bus drivers will go on strike tomorrow.
?I can?t see how anything is going happen between now and midnight,? he said. Siptu and National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU) drivers at the State company are set to go on strike tomorrow in a long-running row over ?11.7 million in cost saving measures.
An expectation that talks between both sides could take place at the Labour Relations Commission today is receding.
Mr Noone said members of Dublin Bus had already taken pay cuts and had not been given many options regarding the cost savings.
Last night Dublin Bus wrote to all their employees urging them not to engage in industrial action.
If the industrial action does go ahead the strikers will start picketing outside bus garages at midnight.
Public demand for bus services was also expected to be high this weekend with both the Oxegen festival and All-Ireland football quarter finals taking place tomorrow.
The strike will affect an estimated 200,000 public transport users and cost Dublin Bus approximately ?200,000 per day.
The halting of bus services in the capital is also expected to disrupt businesses.
Unions have overwhelmingly rejected a Labour Court supported plan which includes reduced overtime, reductions in bank holiday payments and in annual leave.
Dublin Bus said that they have no choice but to implement the measures in order to stabilise the company?s finances.
A Dublin Bus spokeswoman said that the strike would cause disruption to customers and further losses for the company.
She said her information was that the unions planned to strike and said the company was urging them strongly not to.
?It?s really, really, disappointing, counterproductive and damaging?.
?We?d be hopeful that common sense would prevail,? she said. ?Striking is not going to solve the problem and the financial situation will worsen as a result of the strike?.
She said Dublin Bus was willing to enter talks if they were ?constructive around achieving the savings necessary?.
?Dublin Bus does not have a problem with talking,? she said. ?We?ve had exhaustive talks. We?ve exhausted the industrial relations mechanism?.
The company said that bus drivers? core pay of around ?40,000 per annum would not be cut while management and executives faced pay cuts of 3 per cent to 5 per cent. She also said that only about 25 per cent of drivers opted for overtime.
?We have nowhere else to go. We have met the unions 60 times and were at the LRC seven times and at the Labour Court,? she said.
There are also concerns the dispute may affect train users. NBRU assistant general secretary Dermot O?Leary said Irish Rail members would not stand ?idly by? while cuts were imposed on employees at their sister company Dublin Bus.
Both Siptu and the NBRU have said drivers had lost up to ?250 a week from cuts in 2009 and faced a ?94 cut for each day of the six Bank Holidays they worked per year, along with a cut of ?35 if they work a rest day.
Fianna Fail transport spokesman Timmy Dooley urged Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar to intervene and said an ?act of leadership? was required to bridge the divide.
On Thursday the Minister urged both sides to do everything to agree the necessary savings and avoid disruption. ?Payroll savings are needed to protect existing service levels. There have already been substantial fare increases,? he said.
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