Translink: Further NI bus and train strike dates for December

Bus and train passengers in Northern Ireland face further disruption this month after three more strike dates were announced in the run up to Christmas.

Unions representing Translink staff said all of the firm's bus and rail services would be brought "to a standstill" on 15, 16 and 22 December.

The escalation in industrial action is part of their ongoing dispute over pay.

Translink apologised "for any inconvenience this may cause".

The last strike on Friday 1 December caused widespread disruption as no public buses nor trains were operational for a 24-hour period.

The new strike dates fall on the last two weekends before Christmas, which are usually among the most lucrative periods for the retail and hospitality industries.

Belfast bar owner Willie Jack said the strikes would hit businesses on the "the three busiest days" of the year and he described the unions' tactics as "crazy".

"I don't support the dates they've picked, I think that is deliberate for maximum damage and I don't think people will forgive you in this province" he told the BBC's Evening Extra programme.

In its latest statement, Translink said: "We are disappointed with this decision by our union colleagues which will disrupt bus and rail services that so many of our passengers rely on particularly at this busy time of the year."

It urged the unions against staging the strikes, saying it would "only exacerbate the financial pressures on Translink as well as impact local school children and damage the livelihoods of many businesses and their staff in the retail and hospitality sectors".

Staff employed by Translink are represented by three unions - Unite, the General, Municipal and Boilermakers Union (GMB) and the Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union (Siptu).

In a joint statement, they said the next strike would begin at 00.01 GMT on Friday 15 December and last for 48 hours.

The following weekend, Translink staff will strike again, this time for 24 hours beginning at 00.01 GMT on Friday 22 December.

The unions blamed Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris for the expected transport disruption, claiming he had "engineered a pay crisis seeking to advance a political agenda".

Speaking to BBC's Evening Extra programme, regional organiser for SIPTU's membership in Translink, Niall McNally said: "I know this is going to cause disruption. It causes our members to lose pay as well.

"What I would ask people to think about is that these strikes are a symptom of a Northern Irish society which is in crisis.

"The root cause of that crisis is austerity budget that has been imposed on us by the UK government," he added.

Mr McNally accused Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris of behaving like an "absentee landlord".

Mr Jack, who owns several hospitality businesses including The Duke of York pub and The Harp Bar, said the lack of transport would hurt small businesses who were already struggling.

"A lot of these businesses will be handing the keys back - little cafes, restaurants," he said.

"I think people are just hanging in, so why compound that?"

Mr Jack added he supported workers' right to strike but suggested Translink staff would have more public support if they reconsidered the timing of their action.

"Some people maybe haven't enough for a taxi home and they have already pre-booked their meal in a restaurant," he said.

"That's going to ruin their nights. Will it change Translink's management? Probably not."

Union members in Translink recently voted to take strike action over what they have described as a pay freeze this year.

The unions said that because of the current cost-of-living crisis, bus and rail staff "are facing a real terms pay cut of 11%" in the absence of a pay rise.

Translink previously said it could not make a pay offer at this time.

The company receives public funding from Stormont's Department for Infrastructure and Translink said it "did not receive a budget for a pay offer" in this year's budget allocation.

In its latest statement, Translink said it was "fully committed to enter into pay negotiations once the budget issue has been resolved".

Northern Ireland has been without a functioning devolved government since February 2022 due to the Democratic Unionist Party's (DUP) boycott over post-Brexit trade rules.

In the absence of devolution, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Chris Heaton-Harris published a Stormont budget earlier this year.

His budget included a plan to repay a £300m overspend for 2022-23 over a two-year period.

The three unions aimed their anger at Mr Heaton-Harris, saying he had "refused to intervene" to resolve the Translink pay dispute.

"It is completely unacceptable that Translink workers are facing a huge real terms pay cut, due to the proposed pay freeze," said Unite's general secretary Sharon Graham.

"This dispute rest entirely at the door of the secretary of state, who could easily resolve it by providing an adequate budget for public transport services."

GMB regional organiser Peter Macklin said: "Chris Heaton-Harris seeks to engineer an industrial relations crisis in Northern Ireland through imposing brutal budgets on the departments to advance his political agenda."