Greyhound workers to vote on revised pay proposals

Staff at the Greyhound waste company who have been engaged in a high-profile dispute over pay cuts in recent months are expected to vote on a new package of measures tomorrow aimed at resolving the row.

The deal would see some of the staff concerned leaving the company with a redundancy package, and those remaining receiving compensation to offset wage reductions which would be set at a lower rate than previously envisaged.

Nearly 80 staff have been involved in the lengthy dispute over plans by management to introduce pay cuts of up to 35 per cent.

The trade union Siptu, which represents the staff concerned, said they had been locked out by their employer for refusing to accept the pay cuts.

Informed sources suggested about three quarters of the staff concerned may want to leave the company under the new settlement formula, with one quarter opting to remain.

Sources said that under the settlement proposals under discussion, staff who decided to leave the company would receive a redundancy package of four weeks’ pay per year of service.

Under the proposed formula, those staff who remained with the company would get a compensation package of about 30 per cent of the amount they would have received if they had opted for the redundancy scheme.

The compensation payment would be to offset the impact of reductions in pay which would be put in place.

For the staff remaining with Greyhound, the proposed scale of the pay cuts would be reduced from about 35 percent to between 15 and 19 per cent.

One sticking point in the talks over recent days aimed at drawing up the settlement proposals was the funding of the revised package and the timelines around the payment of the money to staff. It is understood that attempts were being made today to resolve these issues in advance of the new ballot.

The dispute at Greyhound has been one of the most bitter and controversial in recent years.

The company has gone to the courts on a number of occasions. At one stage earlier this month a group of non-striking workers in the company, who feared losing their own jobs, held a counter protest to that involving the strikers and their supporters outside the High Court.

The row has been ongoing since June 17th, when Greyhound staff were asked to clock in using a new system. By clocking in that day, it was considered to be in acceptance of new wage rates and other conditions, which were arrived at without union agreement, and which entailed up to a 35 per cent cut in pay.

Greyhound employed agency workers to carry out the duties of the staff who said they were locked out for refusing to accept the proposed pay cuts.

The company and staff had been through the State’s industrial relations machinery in the months leading up to the dispute.

The company had argued that its costs were not sustainable - a stance backed by the Labour Court, which urged the parties to enter into a process to draw up a plan for remedial action.

The striking staff rejected Labour Relations Commission proposals earlier this month aimed at resolving the row.

A move by Greyhound management to pursue enforcement proceedings in the High Court - aimed at dealing with a blockade of its plant in west Dublin - indirectly opened the door to further negotiations when the judge urged the parties to resume talking.