More than 200,000 passengers will be hit for a second day today as the strike at Dublin Bus saw no signs of being resolved last night.
There seemed no prospect of any immediate third-party intervention by the Labour Relations Commission or other industrial relations body aimed at resolving the row which is over the unilateral implementation by management of an €11.7 million cost-saving plan.
Sources suggested there could possibly be an intervention later in the week but in the meantime the dispute was expected to continue.
Union sources have warned the dispute could escalate to involve workers in Irish Rail – which is also part of the broader CIÉ transport group – by the middle of the week if there was no movement to settle the row at Dublin Bus.
Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar yesterday stated that any such action on the railway would be "unlawful". In a statement he urged unions to call off the strike. He said "public transport should be run in the interests of the passengers who use it and the taxpayers who pay for it, and not in the interests of management or unions".
Fianna Fáil accused the Government of standing idly by and leaving passengers and workers abandoned.
Separately yesterday senior political figures suggested the strike was undermining the case being made by trade unions for legislative reforms.
