Dublin Bus driver harassment
Richard Boyd Barrett raises threatened bus-driver industrial action over alleged harassment and performance-monitoring practices at Dublin Bus; the Taoiseach says no workers should be harassed and will have the matter examined.
Tomorrow the National Bus and Rail Union will be balloting all its members over industrial action on our buses. SIPTU has also indicated it plans to support the action of bus drivers. I have not got time to go into the detail other than to say it is about the harassment of drivers by Dublin Bus over profiles, key performance indicators, KPIs, and a "Press it" box system. The only thing people might recognise is where buses are forced to stop for periods of time, putting drivers under a lot of pressure and then they are getting bookings over this, so harassing drivers. Being a bus driver, by the way, is a very stressful job and bus drivers are facing constant harassment and are now being booked for this. They are being forced to consider taking industrial action to stop this harassment by Dublin Bus.
I want the Minister for Transport, Deputy O'Brien, to intervene in this and recognise that bus drivers doing a very stressful job should not be harassed in this way and forced to consider industrial action.
Comment on this
First, no workers should be harassed. I hope that is not the case in Dublin Bus but I will have the matter examined. I will talk to the Minister involved in terms of the specific issue. This is, of course, the industrial relations machinery available to resolve these issues but I will talk to the Minister and have the matter examined.