‘Industrial action is postponed, not cancelled’

A LOCAL bus driver has said the decision taken by public transport unions to suspend a scheduled 72 hour strike should be seen by the Stormont Executive as a ‘gesture of goodwill’.

Pius Fox, a GNB representative who has been a bus driver for 20 years, said industrial action has been postponed to give Infrastructure Minister John O’Dowd time to make an improved pay offer.

“Strike action provisionally planned for February 15 has now been delayed to the end of the month to allow the Government and Translink some space to get their finances in order so that they can make us an offer capable of settling the on-going pay dispute.

“We hope by that time they will have an offer in place which means we do not have to reconvene strike action on February 27. At the moment, we are hopeful they can bring an acceptable deal to the table,” said the Loughmacrory man.

Earlier this week, Sinn Féin’s newly appointed Infrastructure Minister, John O’Dowd, welcomed the suspension of the public transport strike.

Minister O’Dowd said, “I welcome the suspension of the strike action planned for next week. Transport workers provide a very valuable public service and this is the right action to allow time to get around the table and discuss their pay. The trade unions are aware of the strain on public finances and particularly the under-funding of public transport services over many years. I am happy to meet with the unions to discuss this important issue and to encourage them to reach a resolution with Translink management on their pay award as quickly as possible.”

Reflecting on the amount of disruption and inconvenience caused during the last public transport strike, Mr Fox said that the unions “had to get the attention of the public and the politicians.”

“We had to show people just how much hassle can be caused by an unhappy and underpaid public transport workforce.

“Hopefully the last one done the trick and we are not forced to do the same again at the end of the month.

“However, if our demands are not met and a serious pay increase offer is not made, we will be left with no choice.”