Talks to avert today's threatened Dublin Bus strike, which would disrupt services for 200,000 commuters, broke down shortly before 3 a.m. Efforts centred on an initiative from the Irish Congress of Trade Unions proposing that the company make a "goodwill" payment to the drivers in return for them lifting their strike threat and engaging in talks.
Despite indications that unions and management were close to agreement on a number of occasions during almost eight hours of talks at the Labour Relations Commission, they collapsed on the issue of productivity. According to the general secretary of the National Bus and Railworkers' Union, Mr Peter Bunting, the talks collapsed because "the company categorically stated that the whole deal had to be self-financing".
A company spokesman did not contradict Mr Bunting's assertion. He merely said Dublin Bus regretted talks had broken down despite hours of exhaustive discussions.
The ICTU plan was the basis on which Dublin Bus management and unions were recalled for talks at the Labour Relations Commission at 7.15 p.m. It provided for new talks to take place with a four-week deadline.
In return, the NBRU would defer its industrial action. In that event SIPTU drivers in the company are expected to work as usual, as they have restricted their action so far to refusing to pass NBRU pickets.
SIPTU regional secretary, Mr Noel Dowling, said during an early break in discussions that the company had agreed to abolish the two lowest points on the drivers' scale. This was worth about £15 a week extra to many members.
He welcomed the concession and was still hopeful last night that further aims in areas of pay, pensions and a partnership agreement could be secured. "Our position is that these issues have still to be negotiated", he said.
The ICTU formula was an attempt to balance the company's need to maintain competitiveness with the unions' claim for significant higher basic pay levels. It proposed "any overall settlement will involve self-financing measures", but should also bear in mind the issues raised by the unions in their submissions to the Labour Court and the findings of the recent independent review.
The final clause proposed: "The company, as a first step and gesture of goodwill, will make an immediate payment. It is agreed this payment will be taken account of in discussions on an overall settlement."
The issue of a goodwill payment was resolved relatively early. The NBRU had sought £20 a week upfront in the talks last Friday and the company was prepared last night to offer £15 a week while talks took place.
The union was reported to have dropped the precondition for talks that the company acknowledge in writing that drivers' were underpaid. The NBRU general secretary Mr Peter Bunting said that an interim payment of £15 was better proof that his members were underpaid than any company statement.
However both sides could not agree a form of wording to cover negotiations on the substantive pay claim of 20 per cent put by the NBRU. A series of proposals were put by negotiators but none met with NBRU approval.
The Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, was kept apprised of developments and a copy of the ICTU formula was sent to her yesterday afternoon by Mr Peter Cassells, the general secretary of ICTU. However, the Minister's office and congress sources strongly denied rumours the Government had sanctioned a payment to the drivers to avert further industrial action.
Coming in the middle of balloting by trade unions on the new national agreement, the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness, the bus drivers' dispute has considerable potential to destabilise the process. Any concessions to the NBRU, which is not a member of congress, could whet the appetites of other workers for industrial action.