PLANNED bus strike for Thursday, Friday and Saturday this week will be going ahead.
The Unite union has said bus drivers – employed by government-owned Bus Vannin – will begin a three-day strike on Thursday (December 20), after talks broke down.
The bus drivers, numbering about 100 – members of Unite – have been involved in a long-running dispute over the Manx government’s attempts to slash drivers’ wages by up to £3,000-a-year.
Unite national officer for passenger transport Bobby Morton said: ‘Talks with the management have broken down and no more talks are planned. As a result, the strike will go ahead on Thursday.
‘Our members appreciate that this will cause inconvenience to the public, but we have gone the extra mile to try to achieve a fair and equitable settlement. However, we have been met by an intransigent management intent on drastically cutting our members’ wages.’
Unite members voted 90 per cent to take strike action over increased driving time and the reduction of contractual hours from 42 to 37.
Unite says that the origins of the dispute lie with civil servants at the government’s department of community culture and leisure, which instructed the employer to cut the budget for buses by £300,000, despite the fact that the Isle of Man is recession-free with an annual growth rate of four per cent.
• Bus Vannin has released emergency timetables to take effect during the strike.
The strike day bus timetables are closely based on the Sunday timetables, but with rail services being used during the daytime for the majority of bus services that would normally run on services 3 and 3A and 1, 2, 11 and 12.
The Department of Community Culture and Leisure is urging passengers to check these timetables before travelling and says that while it will make every effort to operate all services in the timetable, those intending to travel should check the websites for updates.
The Welcome Centre at Douglas Sea Terminal will be open, 8am to 6pm, on all strike days to respond to inquiries, telephone: 663366.
{http://www.gov.im/publictransport/industrial_action.xml|Detail here}
{http://www.gov.im/publictransport/ViewNews.gov?page=lib/news/publictransport/isleofmanpublict.xml|and here}
{http://cf.gov.im/categories/travel,-traffic-and-motoring/bus-strike-timetables/|and here}
