Dublin Bus management and unions are expected to meet on Monday to discuss the possibility of providing a peak-time service for commuters if strike action resumes next week. The company is looking for volunteers to drive buses between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m. each morning, and 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. each evening.
The human resources manager of Dublin Bus, Mr Gerry Maguire, wrote to SIPTU and the National Bus and Rail Union yesterday seeking an immediate meeting to discuss the issue. A spokesman for the company said that it was willing to consider the provision of a free service to commuters if drivers were willing to provide an emergency service without pay.
The NBRU general secretary, Mr Peter Bunting, said Monday was the earliest his committee could meet the company. Any proposals would be put to a general meeting of members on Tuesday, when the strike was due to resume. He cautioned that attitudes had hardened since the initial strike was called off in February and his members might not be willing to co-operate with an emergency scheme.
SIPTU's regional secretary, Mr Noel Dowling, said it would be Monday before his committee could discuss the issue. As his members were not on strike, he felt the matter was primarily one for the NBRU. He would be putting any proposals to members without a recommendation.
SIPTU's position had not changed in regard to the dispute. "We still believe that all the parties should go back into talks without preconditions. Let's see what emerges and put any proposals to the drivers to vote on them as they see fit. We believe we can get a deal if we are given the opportunity to do so."
The fact that the only formal communication between the company and unions yesterday was on the provision of emergency services underlines the gap between the two sides.
Dublin commuters who used suburban rail and DART services yesterday found them more congested than usual, with long queues and overcrowded carriages. A spokesman for Iarnrod Eireann said 76 carriages out of a full fleet of 80, were in service. A shortage of drivers had also aggravated the situation. He said it was still intended to extend the service to Greystones, industrial relations problems permitting.
The Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, reiterated the Government's determination to hold the line on pay. On RTE's News at One, he said that a pay claim "of 20 per cent without strings cannot be countenanced". He described the pay increases provided for in the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness as being "at the outer limits of what can be afforded" and "it is not possible to go outside those terms".
The general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Mr Peter Cassells, who helped to broker peace talks to end the series of strikes last February, has also been critical of the NBRU stance. "I think it's a bit unfortunate that the NBRU have not looked more closely at the possibility of how they would get decent pay increases and a decent rate of pay for drivers by giving more flexibility," he said.
Yesterday, the Small Firms' Association and the Irish Small and Medium Enterprises' Association attacked CIE's monopoly. The SFA director, Mr Pat Delaney, said public transport had become "a daily endurance test for ordinary people trying to earn a living". ISME said the taxpayer was "continuously being held to ransom on foot of the threat of a withdrawal of necessary social services".
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