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Planned industrial action by transport workers halted

Ross McKee
BBC News NI
BBC Blue and yellow train on a railway line at a train station.BBC
The industrial action would have disrupted the Open golf championship, which is being held in Portrush

Planned industrial action by transport workers in Northern Ireland this weekend has been suspended.

More than 200 workers from the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA) have been involved in a dispute over pay.

Two days of industrial action were due to start on Friday, which could have disrupted some rail and bus services, ahead of The Open at Royal Portrush.

TSSA said that a "breakthrough" for its members came after two days of talks with union officials and Translink representatives, at the Labour Relations Agency.

It said that last week, TSSA members working in supervisor grades (including railway controllers) at Translink had "accepted an offer of a pay rise which also halted a walkout" for Friday and Saturday.

It said that the new offers will now be put to TSSA members "across the relevant groups.

TSSA added that it "does not, at this stage, bring the dispute to a close but does suspend all planned industrial action".

Maryam Eslamdoust, general secretary of TSSA, said the union feels "that sufficient progress has been made with Translink to suspend the planned strikes".

"This is not an end to the matter because it will now be up to our clerical and MPT members to decide if the offers made are good enough," she added.

"Our members play a vital role - keeping public transport running safely every day of the year, with all the responsibility that entails – they should be paid accordingly."