Strike causes 48 hour shutdown of public transport in Northern Ireland

A 48-hour shut down of Northern Ireland's public transport network has left commuters cancelling festive plans or being forced to find a plan B to get out and about.

It follows a day of strike action earlier this month; with another day of action also being planned for Friday the 22nd of December.

The walk-out by Translink bus and rail workers is about a fight for better pay, but it coincides with one of the busiest weekends in the hospitality and retail calendar.

Restauranteur Tony O'Neill, who is the owner of Coppi and Buba in Belfast, says it couldn't come at a worse time.

He said, “December is really vital for us. It carries us through January and February, the leaner months. I really feel the smaller restaurants and pubs are going to feel the impact of this the most.”

“Take Buba for example, our smaller restaurant. It hasn’t had a great year this year and so December would have been enough to keep us through but now we are questioning what is it going to be like in January and February – are we going to get through?”

But Unions say the decision hasn't been made lightly. Davy Thompson from Unite said, “The reality is you do not take strike action in a public facing arena and not impact somebody. There is no hierarchy in who gets impacted here.”

“We’ve taken four days, which we believe is measured, over the month of December, allowing plenty of time for people to make arrangements for kids getting to school, hospital appointments, for people going out to get their shopping. If we wanted to target any sector we would have taken Fridays and Saturdays the whole month”.

A deal for public sector pay is part of a proposed £2.5 billion package offered to Northern Ireland this week from the UK Government. However, it is conditional on a return to power-sharing at Stormont.

Meanwhile Translink has apologised to commuters who will be impacted by this weekend’s disruption.

A spokesperson said, “We are fully committed to entering constructive pay negotiations. However, this can only be done once the budget issue has been resolved.”

"This situation impacts all public sector workers and needs to be resolved at the NI Executive level.”

“We have urged our colleagues to reconsider and pause this action in light of the social and economic impact it will have at this time and to await the outcome of political talks.”

“We apologise to all our passengers for any inconvenience this may cause.”

“Passenger information is available through the media, on the website www.translink.co.uk/industrialaction, through social media, in stations, and on buses and trains. The contact centre will also remain open 028 90 666630”.

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