Bus drivers return to work

The bus drivers' strike lasted 24 hours

Northern Ireland's bus drivers have returned to work after Friday's 24-hour walk out.

Translink said all of its drivers reported for work on Saturday and services were running as normal.

However, drivers are still threatening to strike on future Fridays because of a dispute about pay.

Thousands of bus users had to find alternative ways of getting home on Friday with no end in sight to the dispute between bus drivers and Translink.

A 24-hour strike by 1,700 bus drivers on Friday caused some traffic congestion, but not as much as was initially feared.

All Citybus and Ulsterbus services were off the road across 300 Translink routes, affecting about 180,000 passengers including 65,000 schoolchildren.

While some people were forced to stay at home, commuters were urged to share cars while parents were encouraged to organise lifts to school.

Drivers mounting picket lines at bus depots said that overall, the general public had supported their day of action.

That's a huge issue, it's a complex issue and one that has to be negotiated through Ciaran Rogan Translink

The drivers want a pay rise to compensate for loss of income caused by an EU directive limiting overtime.

However, Translink has refused to take part in further negotiations with bus drivers' unions while staff continue to strike.

The strike, the first in a series of one-day stoppages over pay and conditions, came after Translink failed to secure a High Court injunction to block the action on Thursday.

A Translink spokesman said on Friday that customers had been "greatly inconvenienced" by the industrial action.

However, the drivers' unions have said they are not happy with the current offer on the table because their members' wages were so low.

'Complex issue'

Drivers' basic salaries are about £13,500 which they supplement with overtime of about £5,000 a year.

But the new European directive will limit overtime hours so unions want to raise the level of basic pay significantly.

Ciaran Rogan of Translink said that unions had raised the issue of a working time directive as central to the dispute.

"That will significantly cut the hours that bus drivers can work, potentially leading to a loss of earnings," he said.

The strike affected Ulsterbus and Citybus services

However, Transport and General Workers Union representative John Coffey said drivers wages were 17% behind the average manual workers' earnings.

"It is not correct to say that the company is trying to do everything to solve this strike," he said.

The unions said the other strike dates would be on 24 and 31 October and 7 and 10 November.