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All Translink public transport will be suspended this Friday 15 and Saturday 16 December and next Friday 22 December due to strike action by members of the Unite, GMB and SIPTU unions. It will see all Translink rail and bus services in Northern Ireland suspended as well as cross border bus and train services to Dublin and Dublin Airport. A limited Enterprise service will operate between Dublin and Dundalk on the strike days.
Travel will also be disrupted on late night services that would terminate after midnight on days of strike and on some cross border services the evening before and morning after strike days. It leaves only private operators such as Rooney Coach Hire running a service between Newry and Belfast.
A spokesperson for the three unions said that full responsibility for the transport disruption lies with Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris who has engineered a pay crisis seeking to advance a political agenda
in a joint statement the spokesperson said "The strikes represent an escalation of the industrial dispute by public transport workers who took initial strike action on Friday 1 December. The dispute centres over the unions’ demand for a cost-of-living adjustment pay increase. Workers are facing a real terms pay cut of 11 per cent due to the failure of Translink to offer workers a pay increase.
"Both Translink’s management and officials at the department for infrastructure have blamed the failure to offer a pay increase on the inadequacy of funding in the budget imposed by secretary of state for Northern Ireland Chris Heaton-Harris."
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “it is completely unacceptable that Translink workers are facing a huge real terms pay cut, due to the proposed pay freeze.
“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. The Translink workers have the unflinching backing of Unite. In the coming days, workers will be taking their campaign for decent pay direct to the door of the secretary of state.”
Speaking for GMB trade union, 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. He seeks to weaponise the collective punishment of workers and the most vulnerable in a wider political game. This is completely disgraceful. Workers and our public services will not be the collateral damage in a game of chicken."
SIPTU regional organiser for his union’s members in Translink is Niall McNally who challenged the secretary of state:“Chris Heaton-Harris is behaving like a political arsonist. He seems to think the more fires he can light the better his chances of re-establishing Stormont. I think it is clear to everyone that his failed strategy can only make things worse – and this is increasingly recognised right across civic society in the region.
“The secretary of state needs to step back and pull Northern Ireland from the brink. A return to stable government in Northern Ireland requires adequate funding for basic public services, including public transport – funding sufficient to enable a proper pay increase for public sector workers. It is still within the power of the secretary of state to avoid this strike if he intervenes to resolve this dispute.”
Translink have expressed their disappointment with the strike action especially during the busy spell leading up to Christmas.
A Translink spokesperson 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.
"We are fully committed to enter into pay negotiations once the budget issue has been resolved. The budget issue, which impacts on many public sector workers, needs to be resolved at the NI Executive level.
"We would urge our colleagues not to take this further action which will 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 who depend on the busy Christmas period."
For up to date information on service changes or to enquire about refunds on bookings already made go to www.translink.co.uk
To check out the limited Enterprise service between Dublin and Dundalk go to www.irishrail.ie
Cross Border (And Airport 300) Bus Services
- Online bookings are currently suspended for Friday 15th December, Saturday 16th December and Friday 22nd December. Passengers who have already purchased tickets for Goldliner X1-X5 and Airport 300 services for this date are being contacted to organise refunds.
- Please note that the following services will be affected on Thursday 14th, Sunday 17th and Thursday 21st December:
- Thursday 14th December
- X1 – Last service Ex Belfast 20:00
- X1 – Last service Ex Dublin 22:45
- 300 – Last service Ex Belfast 22:30
- 300 – Last service Ex Belfast International Airport 23:30
- Sunday 17th December
- X1 – First service Ex Belfast 03:00
- X1 – First service Ex Dublin 04:45
- 300 – First service Ex Belfast 03:00
- 300 – First service Ex Belfast International Airport 03:40
- Thursday 21st December
- X1 – Last service Ex Belfast 20:00
- X1 – Last service Ex Dublin 22:45
- 300 – Last service Ex Belfast 22:30
- 300 – Last service Ex Belfast International Airport 23:30
- Saturday 23rd December
- X1 – First service Ex Belfast 03:00
- X1 – First service Ex Dublin 04:45
- 300 – First service Ex Belfast 03:00
- 300 – First service Ex Belfast International Airport 03:40
- Thursday 14th December
