Relief as public transport strike on two days of the Open called off in last-minute deal
A last minute pay offer has cancelled strike action that could have seriously hit trains and buses on two vital days of the biggest sporting event in Northern Irish history.
The 153rd Open is in its second day of four today (18th), with the world-famous tournament expected to bring a total 278,000 fans to Portrush for one of the biggest events in the global golfing calendar.
But a pay dispute at Translink had threatened to hit public transport both today and tomorrow, and could potentially have knocked a serious hole in bus and rail networks at a time when concerns had already been raised about overcrowding on trains stemming from a reduced holiday schedule and difficulty with the public transport company’s website
Talks between bosses and unions scheduled to take place over Wednesday continued until late yesterday, with Translink this morning announcing that the industrial action was off.
Said a spokeswoman: “All proposed industrial action for today and tomorrow, July 18 and 19, has been withdrawn.
“All services are operating as scheduled, including the special coach, bus, rail, and Park and Ride services for the 153rd Open Golf Championship in Portrush.”
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The 48-hour strike would have seen technical staff at Northern Ireland Railways and clerical and management workers at Ulsterbus walk out first thing on Friday, and not return to work until Sunday morning.
Union the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) stated Translink “made last minute offers ahead of walkouts due to start at midnight” after extensive talks with the company over two days at the Labour Relations Agency.
The offers will now be put to TSSA members across the relevant groups, with the union reinforcing that the pay dispute isn’t over yet despite all planned industrial action being called off.
TSSA general secretary Maryam Eslamdoust said: “We feel that sufficient progress has been made with Translink to suspend the planned strikes. This is not an end to the matter, because it will now be up to our members to decide if the offers made are good enough.
“From the start we have only asked for fairness and parity with other workers at Translink, and we could have reached this point some time ago had the company been in listening mode.
“Our members play a vital role keeping public transport running safely every day of the year, with all the responsibility that entails – they should be paid accordingly.”
The News Letter has already highlighted concerns about about crammed trains from a reduced schedule and website ticket failures connected to the Open.
There have been reports of trains being standing room only at rush hours on two major commuter lines, with aggrieved passengers blaming a cut-down timetable that scrapped express runs plus extra demand as people tried to get to Portrush, as well as substantially increased demand on a lines between Belfast and Londonderry that stops near the Open venue.
Meanwhile, special trains laid on specifically for the Open are sold out on all but very early morning trips departing before 4.30am – and on Thursday morning, ticket sales for normal services between Belfast and Portrush appeared to fail; attempts to purchase via Translink’s journey planner did not work.