Over 100 Bus Drivers Attend Impromptu Gathering With Td At Dáil Over Plan For Dublin Bus

Fury over plan that will “destroy” working conditions and work/life balance of bus drivers

Today outside the Dáil over 100 angry bus drivers attended an impromptu meeting with People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett to express their concern and anger over the recently announced plan for Dublin Bus (Transformational Agreement 2021/2024) which they say will “destroy their working conditions and ruin their work/life balance”.

A small number of drivers had contacted Richard Boyd Barrett TD over the last week and requested a meeting. However, the workers and the People Before Profit TD were taken aback at the huge, spontaneous turnout today at the Dáil with over 100 drivers from many bus garages in Dublin attending.

Richard Boyd Barrett TD said: “Bus driver after bus driver expressed their absolute fury at the proposed plan and expressed their determination to reject the proposals.”

A ballot on the proposals is expected to take place later in the month.

“The workers are rightly incensed at changes to rostering, duties and shifts which would see drivers working much longer and more anti-social hours that will fundamentally and very negatively impact on their conditions, quality of life and ultimately on the quality of service.

“The workers believe, and I agree with them, that this plan is part of a race to the bottom in terms of working conditions, linked to the privatisation agenda in public transport.

“The Tánaiste recently said that there now needed to be payback for frontline workers due to the service they had given the country during the pandemic. However, these bus drivers feel that this move is the complete opposite and represents a stab in the back to frontline who kept the country moving during the pandemic.”

Deputy Boyd Barrett committed to support the bus workers in their campaign against the proposals and to write immediately to the Minister for Transport, the NTA, the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste outlining the concerns and anger of the bus drivers.