As reported on RTE.ie the largest union at Bus Eireann has said its members will go on strike and place pickets on depots from Sunday if management presses ahead with cost cutting measures.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Michael Faherty from the National Bus and Rail Drivers Union appealed to management to sit down and negotiate changes to the measures. An official result from the NBRU ballot will be known later today.
Bus Éireann has warned it will press ahead with a range of cost-cutting measures despite the threat of industrial action. The company has signalled it will implement a Labour Court recommendation aimed at saving around €5m from its payroll. The cost-cutting is aimed at reducing overtime and premium pay. Mr McAlinden said the company lost €6m last year and it was no longer sustainable to continue operations without major cost reductions. He said that the company had "exhausted" all of the State's industrial relations mechanisms in a bid to find an agreement with unions. This included two sessions in the Labour Relations Commission and two days of hearings at the Labour Court.
Mr McAlinden said there was a consensus by everyone involved in the process that the company's finances needed to be turned around. He said that if Bus Éireann had managed to secure the €20m cuts it sought at the start of the process it would have since returned to profit.
Most importantly Mr McAlinden said that under an internal agreement unions were obliged to provide the company with 30 days formal notice of industrial action. He said there was a legal requirement for unions to give the company seven days notice of such action, as a minimum requirement.
Mr McAlinden said than any industrial disturbance would be counterproductive to the company's financial wellbeing. If there was going to be industrial action this weekend the company would regard that as unofficial, he said. He called on the unions to clarify what if any action they intended taking for the sake of bus passengers.
