DRIVERS AT Dublin Bus are expected to vote on new draft proposals agreed between management and unions in a bid to avert a strike over controversial cost-saving measures.
Under the proposed deal, reached yesterday after several days of talks at the Labour Relations Commission (LRC), the company would proceed with plans to remove 120 buses from its fleet.
However, instead of letting go 160 recently-recruited drivers, the company would offer voluntary redundancy terms to 80 more senior staff. About 80 probationary drivers at the company would be offered work over a four-day week covering Friday and Monday as well as weekends.
The new arrangements would meet Dublin Bus’s objective of reducing overtime levels. It has maintained these levels have to be reduced to save money and to allow the company to operate within legislation banning drivers from working more than 48 hours a week. The proposed deal will also contain work practice changes for drivers.
The LRC is expected to publish a document on the proposals for the parties tomorrow, after which Siptu and the National Bus and Rail Union are likely to ballot members. Members in both unions have voted for strike action in the event of management unilaterally introducing its plan.
Dublin Bus has said that the company is facing a very serious and challenging year and it must take urgent action. The company said it was projecting losses of €31 million in 2009 unless its cost-effectiveness plan was implemented.
However, it is unclear whether the proposals will be accepted by drivers, many of whom depend on overtime to boost their incomes. Industrial action could seriously disrupt 450,000 passengers.