Just wondering if we have any Dublin Bus drivers on here. What is there option about the strike, heard a few shocking stories on the radio about drivers being abused whilst passing the picket. Stones being thrown at there buses. I for one am living at dublin 9 and i can really see the difference in traffic, its taking ages to get to work and i drive, really feel for people that depend on the buses. Country in recession and we have boys out on unofficial strike, i bet its a few troublemakers causing all the trouble. Makes you wonder how many other people would jump at a job right now and these boys out striking.
This is shocking to say the least a country on it's knees nearly and we can't even have the right to our public transport. I really can't stand bus drivers with a attiude at times, " €1.60 please, (driver) where you going? me: Down the f*ckin road what you on f*ckin commission or something" ahhhhhhh drivers with an opinon just do your job drive from a/z if I wanted to have an argument i'd of hailed a taxi...
ok!id just like to say people complaining about the bus drivers should be ashamed of yourselfs!Dont get me wrong i cant stand bus drivers,but to these men and woman its there livelihood.For an example if you were a teacher would you be happy if you were told to move to a different school would u be happy?These people put up with all sorts of abuse from the IRISH public and what happens,absolutely nothig.getting bricks thrown at them everyday and attacked almost everyday!Fair play to them!
Ok maybe I have this wrong but the current dispute is centred around 1 individual refusing to drive a different route, is that correct.? If so it;s a disgrace imo. What difference does it make what route your driving. If your employed to drive for x amount of hours then you should just drive where your told to drive.
The bricks that are been thrown seem to be the ones that are getting thrown by the drivers on the picket line at the drivers that want to work as far as I know. I think some do 70hrs per week boo woo!!
who mentioned anything about insulting bus drivers, that is not what this is about. Firstly - the bus drivers union agreed of the new proposal, this was agreed by all members of the union. Secondly - it was (according to a driver who rang in the grs) 3-4 bus drivers that between themselves decised to strike, then by intimidation etc more and more drivers didnt want to pass the picket hense joining it. Alot of these drivers are too scared to go into the depot, one man was saying he passed the picket line (which is actually unofficial, there union representatives are not involved) were hurled abuse and were scared of what these drivers would do to them when they come back to the depot or if there car will still be in the same shape as it was left in. http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0428/dublinbus.html
whats the point in having a union if your going to go on an unofficial strike all the time... my biggest grief with bus drivers is that they forget they are providing a service to the general public, the amount of times ive seen people running to catch a bus and the driver puts the foot down or if there is 5 people standing on a bus he just drives past the stop not letting people on when legally he can can allow like another 6 on i get the about 20 times a week and i see it all the time... bus drives are assholes who abuse the fact the have total job protection
I see this all the time on Abbey St where a passenger runs to get the bus litterally 3or4feet away from the stop the bus is at the lights the driver just looks at him/her with a smug grin and points to the corner as if to say if you run quickly you'll might just make it round to the Gardener St stop before these lights go green ha ha. Absoultly obnoxious.
the old lad is a bus driver but not in that depot so he is not striking asked the old fella about this the unions agreed to a cost cutting plan but the decision on what actions this would involve has not been agreed on
if thats the case, why isnt their a vote to go on strike as a union, is that not why they pay their €20 a month??
This was all about one driver who didnt agree to a new rostering arrangement, boo bloody hoo, get on with lads your union didnt even give this the go ahead. An unofficial strike in these gloomy times is very unwelcome for everyone,The company,the drivers and the public
No i think you would have come on here and opened your mouth about something you know **** all about,its nice to see so many reds hating fellow reds because of there jobs nice one lads cheers
i for one dont hate anyone for there job and this thread was aimed at that, i just wondered what people though of it, if you read my posts i havent insulted anyone, but i dont think bus drivers should be pegging stones at other drivers because of a difference of opinion. Stallmullen can we have your opinions on it
the situation arose out of a new timetable for the 128 route which had some very bad duties on it,as is the norm and agreed over the years when a new timetable(bill) is being introduced it is given to the drivers on the route again all agreed with the company and the union, usually the first bill is turned down so it is sent back to the scheduler and were the drivers think improvements can be made are noted and a second bill is given to the drivers who work that route if it is turned down on the third time the company can force through the new schedule again this is the normal proceedure as laid down by the company and unions,however on this occasion a new schedule was handed to the drivers without any consultation and was deemed unworkable,the company and unions have in place a structure that on this occasion was not adhered to,so on sunday when the driver was given his timetable he refused to work it and was suspended by the company so when this happened other drivers decided to support there colleague and refuse to operate there duties on the sunday resulting in all of them being suspended this is what happened on the sunday and escalated into monday,on monday drivers from harristown visited other garages looking for support remember they did not place ANY pickets on these garages as it is illegal to secondary picket ie place an unofficial picket on a garage that you dont work in,the drivers did recieve reluctantly support from drivers in these garages,as for the throwing of stones well i have heard nothing about this suffice to say that all the dublin bus fleet are fitted with cameras that can see all around the bus both inside and out and for quiet some distance,damaging dublin bus property is a sackable offence and something that i as a driver do not condone as for intimidation well i think that words will be passed between those that do agree and those that dont and this can be deemed to be intimidating again i was not at the said garage but i am sure that it will all come out in the wash,remember paper never refused ink and while looking at the six o clock news on monday night a gentleman that was being interviewed at the civic offices in ballymun said that he had to walk into and back from town why could he not get the 16 bus in santry or the 19/19a on ballymun road the point i am making is some of the reporting is just pure sensationalism ie intimidation,stone throwing etc, as for a post above relating to incidents that happen at the 41/33 bus stop on lower abbey street again this is a safety issue,when a driver closes the doors on a bus and it starts to move for a health and safety issue the company and h&s clearly state that the doors are not opened until the next stop especially at traffic lights,having drove the routes i mentioned and indeed been in the situation of people banging on doors to board the bus at traffic lights i am one of those drivers who will point to the next stop which is on lower gardiner street were if the passenger makes his way to i will wait for them to board the bus i will not open the doors when i have left the stop or if i am at the traffic lights as when you do open the doors they become like a magnet with people running from all over the street to board the bus again a health and safety issue as you can be stuck holding up other traffic,i do know that some drivers are unhelpful but you get that in all jobs, the drivers over the past few weeks have voted for the implementation of cost cutting measures to be introduced by the company but unfortunately some of the issues that the company were looking for had nothing to do with cost cutting but were included in the document given to the drivers,the company have been looking to introduce some of these measures for years and to the detrement of the travelling public simple, nobody wants to be going on strike at anytime let alone in these days of resession and cutbacks but we in dublin bus are lucky to have a union that will help drivers not just in dealing with the company but on other issues as well and having seen foreign companies coming into ireland over the years and insisting on not allowing unions and then hearing some of the crap ways in which the workforce are treated all without any representation well yes i will always want a union to guide and help me when required and while i am not too well up on industrial language one thing i do know is that we were balloted on numerous occasions were the democratic will of the union members is respected as in if the vote is yes well so be it, hope i have explained some of the points raised and yes i know in a long winded way
Stamullen Red - how come your union haven't supported the drivers if the company didn't follow procedure in having the new route agreed?
it was an unofficial strike so the union and all unions will not support an unofficial strike,this was the drivers on the 128 route that took this action and other drivers decided to support them nothing to do with the nbru or siptu,at the time of the vote to accept the cost cutting proposals the unions said that they would be in talks over the coming days with a view to new timetables etc but the company brought out the new timetable before talks started,indeed the drives on this route said that the new timetable was unworkable and told the company this i am not a driver in harristown garage i am in summerhill bus garage again without knowing certain agreements between the unions and the company i do know that there are procedures in place and that these were not adhered to by the company so things snowballed no winners in this situation but from what i hear and it is only hearsay talks are still ongoing to resolve the situation on all the new timetables and remember with these cutbacks it is the public that suffer all this at a time when one of the governments partners want you to leave you car at home and use public transport,