Bus drivers at one of Dublin's biggest depots have threatened to strike from Sunday over what they claim is an attempt by Dublin Bus to "force in" new scheduling.
Drivers at the Harristown depot near Dublin airport claim they are being forced to work longer days to compensate for "mistakes" by the company in how it schedules buses and the depots that certain routes operate from.
Bus drivers' statement
Drivers based at Harristown said the dispute was caused by "incompetence" and "bad planning" on the part of Dublin Bus management.
"They placed the Lucan based 25x Expresso buses in Harristown. These buses had to run on the M50 at peak hours," the statement said.
"It took the company a year to figure out it was a disaster, and by then the Lucan service had practically collapsed. There are routes that operate only minutes from the depot but are based in other garages."
The statement said the company expected drivers to travel into Dublin city in 45 minutes when it was aware journeys could "routinely take over an hour".
"The result will be chaos on the new routes with passengers forced to await the arrival of relief drivers coming from a depot miles away. They want to add hours to our working week and great inconvenience to the travelling public."
The drivers accused management of "bullying" tactics and said the company was forcing a strike in the lead-up to Christmas.
They also claimed they were being asked to finish shifts 11 kilometres away from the depots where they would start their shifts. This would "add hours to drivers' working weeks", the statement added.
The drivers are represented by the National Bus and Railworkers Union (NBRU) and Siptu.
A spokeswoman for Dublin Bus said the company had gone through conciliation and the full industrial relations process in order to resolve the dispute. A Labour Court recommendation issued on October 22nd had upheld the company's position and the drivers were failing to abide by that, she added.
The spokeswoman said the new arrangements only affected 70 drivers at the depot, who had been recruited specifically to drive on new routes the company had planned to introduce from next Monday.
The changes include an "enhancement" to the the existing number 4 route from Ballymun to Blackrock and a new route 128 from Baldoyle through the city centre and on to Rathmines.
"We are ready to implement the services, we want to do it and we need to do it," she said.
The drivers were not being asked to do anything that other drivers did not do, she added.
"We would be hopeful that common sense will prevail."