BUS WALKOUT THREAT D-DAY
Board members to rule on pay cuts amid stand-off
TOMORROW is “D-day” for Bus Eireann’s board members who face a national strike threat in the salary cuts row.
The company is losing €2,000 every hour at present due to a crisis in its Expressway service.
Chiefs will decide whether to impose a planned 10% staff pay cut or back down in the ongoing dispute.
The bitter stand-off has been escalating for the past six weeks and comes to a head tomorrow.
Without board support, chief Ray Hernan will have to back off from his threat to slash wage costs by €12million as part of a plan to reduce overall costs by €30million.
Talks brokered by the Workplace Relations Commission collapsed last week with the rival Siptu and National Bus & Rail Union opposing changes in shift pay and sick leave rules. The unions admitted there may be room for “flexibilities” and “efficiencies” but these would not be enough to stem the losses.
Sister State transport companies Iarnrod Eireann and Dublin Bus are now preparing for any “contagion” from the likely Bus Eireann strike.
The capital’s company has been moving vehicles from some depots it shares with Bus Eireann so its drivers would not be affected by any union Expressway drivers’ pickets. Rail chiefs are preparing to take legal steps against union officials if picketers try to disrupt access to stations.
Employees who engage in “sympathetic action” by refusing to pass bus drivers’ pickets will not be covered by the 1990 Industrial Relations Act.
If Mr Hernan fails to get boardroom backing tomorrow his rescue plans for the company will likely collapse.
At present estimated losses are running at €350,000 a week and the State company may run out of money before the summer.
Bus Eireann has around 2,450 employees and their jobs are at risk if it faces collapse.
Last month Mr Hernan told an Oireachtas transport committee: “All the company, not just Expressway, will go out of business, all jobs will be lost, This is not scaremongering.”
All the firm, not just Expressway, will go bust, all the jobs will be lost
RAY HERNAN DURING OIREACHTAS COMMITTEE