Over 900 Bus Eireann drivers are to vote on the company's "Change Plan" over the next two weeks. It is offering them higher basic pay in return for radical changes in work practices said to be needed to fight off competition from the private sector.
However, SIPTU and the National Bus and Rail Union are urging members to reject the plan and are holding simultaneous strike ballots in case the company attempts to introduce the changes unilaterally .
Under the plan, basic pay for drivers will be increased from £187 a week to £280. However most drivers earn over £400 a week when overtime and various allowances are taken into account. The general secretary of the NBRU, Mr Peter Bunting, said that current annual salary for drivers could be as high as £21,000 and under the new scheme some would be earning as little as £14,500.
The new plan would particularly impact on "out drivers" in more remote locations who would lose opportunities for significant overtime, as well as drivers who had to take long breaks between trips. These would lose their "waiting time". Under the new system Mr Bunting said that up to 16 hours a week could be required by the company without any "waiting time" payments to drivers.
SIPTU regional secretary Mr Noel Dowling said the new rosters compiled by management "were a complete mismatch". Significant changes were required to make the plan acceptable.
However, Bus Eireann's operations manager, Mr Paul Kiely, disputed Mr Bunting's figures and said that only a small minority of the 130 "out drivers" would be adversely affected by the proposals. At present employees were having to work up to 50 hours a week to earn £400, he said, and there would be opportunities for overtime to ensure they could protect earnings and work shorter hours under the new scheme.
He said the plan had taken three years to negotiate and that the company had "adopted everything we possibly could" from the union side. "The outcome is no savings on drivers' payroll. In fact there is £500,000 extra going into the deal, but we are getting much greater productivity in return."
Mr Kiely appealed to drivers to accept the plan. It was taking too long to prepare the company for competition, he warned. "During all this period we've been unable to introduce new minibuses bought for routes in Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford. That means customers are being neglected and business suffering."
The drivers are expected to reject the proposals. In that event the company is more likely to refer the dispute to the Labour Court rather than risk a national strike by introducing the changes unilaterally.