ProvinciaL bus services face major disruption tomorrow, if talks at the Labour Relations Commission fail today.
The National Bus and Rail Union says that any attempt by Bus Eireann to implement plans to bring 20 new minibuses into service tomorrow on its suburban routes in Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford will lead to a national strike.
Informed industry sources say the dispute could spread rapidly across the CIE group, although no formal strike notice has yet been served on Dublin Bus and Iarnrod Eireann. This is because many Bus Eireann garages to be picketed share premises with the other CIE subsidiaries, particularly Iarnrod Eireann.
While CIE could threaten legal action against the unions, this might be counter-productive. Last January CIE unions called off a national one-day stoppage after being threatened with legal action, but members took to the streets anyway. The only effect the legal threat had was to take control of events momentarily out of the hands of the unions and turn the strike into a vehicle for militant rank and file groups. Feeling amongst NBRU members still runs very high.
The union's general secretary, Mr Peter Bunting, said yesterday: "I am very pessimistic about tomorrow's meeting, given Bus Eireann's apparent determination to break agreements and introduce the new minibuses. Our members are ready to go to work on Tuesday morning under their existing terms of employment and, if they are allowed to do so, there will be no disruption.
"But the company seems hell bent on a dispute. This union will not be intimidated and bullied by anybody."
Last year a major strike in CIE was narrowly averted after Labour Court intervention. Both sides agreed to conclude negotiations on a £44 million cost-saving plan by March 31st.
The LRC may ask Bus Eireann to defer introduction of the minibuses if the unions agree to a new deadline to conclude talks. The company has made more progress in talks than other CIE subsidiaries. But it is also more exposed to competition and further delays will weaken it more.
A company spokesman said that insistence by unions on no improved services being introduced, until everything was agreed across all three companies, was a stalling tactic.
Bus Eireann was offering to protect the earnings of staff displaced by the new services, give full retrospection to minibus crews if pay increases arise from the current talks and has even offered to refer the issue to the Labour Court. If the unions believed in their cause they had nothing to fear by going there, the spokesman said.