Mr Paschal Donohue TD,
Ms Anne Graham Mr Paddy Doherty Mr Martin Nolan
1st May 2015
Re: Privatisation of Publicly-owned Bus Routes
Dear Stakeholder,
I refer to the above and the industrial action being undertaken by our members in opposition to your plans to facilitate and implement the privatisation/tendering of publicly-owned bus routes.
You will all be aware that the process initiated by the Labour Relations Commission last August was convened in an attempt to resolve all of the issues at the heart of the current dispute.
Central to this process was an agreed interlockedagenda which contained issues tabled by the parties, inclusive of those raised by the bus companies.
For the record, the agenda was as follows:
All of the foregoing remain central to this dispute; all of the foregoing require to be addressed to the point where, nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.
Minister, your intervention was interpreted by the NBRU as a vehicle by which discussion and negotiations would recommence in an effort to resolve all of the concerns of all of the parties.
Ms Graham, your recent intervention has led to a crystallisation of the fears and concerns of our members.
Mr Doherty and Mr Nolan, your intervention has done a disservice to your employees and our customers, attacking workers and their representatives can only but lead to a hardening of your staff’s resolve.
The NBRU’s message to you the stakeholder is, no one party to the process can resolve the dispute, it behoves all of the stakeholders, on both sides of the debate to collectively address the issues on theagreed interlocked agenda.
The NBRU remains implacably opposed to privatisation, we will continue to highlight this flawed ideologically based attempt to hijack publicly-owned bus companies, we will continue to highlight the fact that this policy is a bad deal for the taxpayer and we will continue to focus on our contention that this is race to bottom.
Yours Sincerely
________________
DERMOT O’LEARY
General Secretary