Richard Boyd Barrett Urges Minister to Halt Harassment of Bus Drivers
Richard Boyd Barrett addressed planned industrial action by bus workers, saying drivers face harassment from Dublin Bus over profiles, KPIs and a "press it box" system. He called on the Minister for Transport to intervene, have the matter examined and to use industrial relations machinery to resolve the dispute.
The National Bus and Rail Workers Union will ballot all of their members over industrial action on buses, and CIP2 have indicated they plan to support the action of bus drivers. The speaker noted the ballot is in response to workplace practices and the pressure placed on drivers.
The complaint centres on profiling, KPIs - key performance indicators - and a press it box system that can force buses to stop for periods and put drivers under pressure. Drivers are reportedly being booked over these incidents, which is described in the speech as harassment by Dublin Bus.
The speaker urged the Minister for Transport to intervene, to recognise that bus workers do a very stressful job and should not be harassed, and to have the matter examined. He said he would speak to the Minister and highlighted that industrial relations machinery is available to resolve specific issues.
The speech emphasised that being a bus driver is a very stressful job and that ongoing pressure and bookings are forcing drivers to consider industrial action to stop the alleged harassment. The speaker framed the dispute as a matter of worker welfare and labour relations.
Planned industrial action
The National Bus and Rail Workers Union will ballot all of their members over industrial action on buses, and CIP2 have indicated they plan to support the action of bus drivers. The speaker noted the ballot is in response to workplace practices and the pressure placed on drivers.
Allegations of harassment and performance systems
The complaint centres on profiling, KPIs - key performance indicators - and a press it box system that can force buses to stop for periods and put drivers under pressure. Drivers are reportedly being booked over these incidents, which is described in the speech as harassment by Dublin Bus.
Call for ministerial intervention
The speaker urged the Minister for Transport to intervene, to recognise that bus workers do a very stressful job and should not be harassed, and to have the matter examined. He said he would speak to the Minister and highlighted that industrial relations machinery is available to resolve specific issues.
Workplace stress and possible consequences
The speech emphasised that being a bus driver is a very stressful job and that ongoing pressure and bookings are forcing drivers to consider industrial action to stop the alleged harassment. The speaker framed the dispute as a matter of worker welfare and labour relations.
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Transcript
Tomorrow the National Bus and Rail Workers Union will be balloting all of their members over industrial action on our buses. CIP2 have also indicated that they plan to support the action of bus drivers over a, I haven't got time to go into the detail, other than to say it is about the harassment of drivers by Dublin Bus over profiles, KPIs, key performance indicators and a press it box system. The only thing you might recognise or people might recognise is where buses are forced to stop for periods, putting drivers under a lot of sort of pressure and then they are getting bookings over this, harassing drivers. Being a bus driver by the way is a very very stressful job as it is and bus drivers are facing constant harassment, now being booked for this and they are being forced to consider taking industrial action to stop this harassment by Dublin Bus. So I want the Minister for Transport to intervene in this and recognise that bus workers doing a very stressful job should not be harassed in this way and forced to consider industrial action. First of all no workers should be harassed, I hope that's not the case but in Dublin Bus and I have the matter examined and I talked to the Minister involved. In terms of the specific issue there are of course the industrial relations machinery available to resolve these issues but I will talk to the Minister and have the matter examined.