Dublin Bus to hold special meeting

DUBLIN Bus is holding an extraordinary general meeting this morning to discuss the state of its finances. It is understood that the company's accumulated deficit is now in excess of £34 million.

Under company law, Dublin Bus has to call the meeting because its net assets are less than half its paid-up share capital. It is the second time the company has had to hold a special meeting. The last time was in 1991.

A company spokesman said last night that the meeting was a "technical" one. There was no problem regarding the day-to-day running of the company, he said.

The company's 1996 results are expected to be published next month. The 1995 results showed accumulated losses of £20 million. It is understood that the 1996 results include a provision of up to £10 million for redundancies and for "special claims". One union source claimed that if the redundancy payments provision was stripped out - much of which had not been used up yet - then the losses would not be that bad. One option for Dublin Bus is to seek a fares increase. No fare increases have been granted since 1991, but sources believe the Government would be very unlikely to accede to such a request prior to a general election.

The company is currently negotiating a viability plan under which it is seeking £8 million in savings and around 150 voluntary redundancies at Dublin Bus. Labour costs are said to account for 60 per cent of expenditure.

It is understood that the talks are proceeding quite slowly. March 31st last was set as a deadline for completion of negotiations between management and unions, but there is still a long way to go.

However, it is said that a lot of progress has been made on introducing one-man operated buses. Only a handful of buses are two-man operated, said a source. However, he said the majority of those affected had been redeployed rather than made redundant.

It is understood that five of the seven negotiating groups have moved the talks to the Labour Relations Commission, the other two are still negotiating directly with the company.