Ross: I won’t be bullied by ‘orchestrated’ wildcat strike
TRANSPORT Minister Shane Ross has told the Irish Mail on Sunday that he will not be intimidated by wildcat Bus Éireann strikers.
Insisting that the sudden stoppage, that left tens of thousands of commuters stranded on Friday, was ‘orchestrated’, he said: ‘I’m not going to be ambushed by a wildcat strike against the travelling public.
‘It would be utterly wrong to be intimidated by these probably illegal activities.’
While he ‘absolutely’ defended the right of the workforce to strike, as ‘that is their democratic right’, the minister insisted: ‘This is orchestrated. If anybody thinks that it is going to weaken our resolve then they are wrong. It will strengthen it. And it has strengthened it. So if my position has changed in any way because of this, it was to make absolutely certain that we cannot respond to illegality.’
National Bus and Rail Workers Union president Dermot O’Leary last night again denied his union was involved in orchestrating the strike, and he called on Mr Ross to encourage his department to enter talks. He said: ‘We were out straight away at 8.45am saying this was unacceptable and the strike has to go to the WRC. And it will.’
Friday’s early morning pickets were in response to the increasingly bitter Bus Éireann dispute that has been bringing transport misery to at least 100,000 commuters around the country for more than a week. Mr Ross said yesterday: ‘The resolution of this problem will be done in terms of industrial relations.’
He added: ‘The moment the strike is finally and conclusively ended, I am very happy to bring all the stakeholders together to look at the big problems facing the public transport sector.
‘And that includes the subvention, it includes the routes, the role of the department, the National Transport Agency, the unions and the management in the future of public transport.’ Mr Ross also said that Bus Éireann could lose some of the routes that are losing money, but that that was a matter for the NTA. He said: ‘That’s their decision but the NTA and I have guaranteed that if Expressway routes are closed because they are not financially viable, the NTA will not leave any rural communities isolated. That is an absolute pledge being given, but they choose to ignore that.
‘That is already happening in one of the routes that’s being closed. It’s Westport to Athlone. That’s already happening, the NTA will provide to make sure none are isolated.’
Meanwhile last night, Government sources told the Mail on Sunday that they are certain Friday’s sudden stoppage was orchestrated by NBRU leaders.
Dermot O’Leary of the union said: ‘What happened did not have the sanction or imprimatur of the NBRU.’
But he added: ‘What I cannot deny is that we are the largest union at Bus Éireann. It would be an insult to people’s intelligence to say that none of my members were involved.’
‘We cannot respond to illegality’ ‘Bus Éireann could lose some routes’