Just as a new national pay agreement appears likely, CIÉ rail and bus workers are set to stage a work stoppage today in protest over the Government's plans to break up the ailing transport group.
National agreements are designed to foster industrial peace, but there are grounds to fear more stoppages as the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, moves to establish Dublin Bus, Iarnród Éireann and Bus Éireann as independent companies and open up a quarter of the bus market in Dublin to competition.
Thousands of commuters will be affected by the action of members of the National Bus and Railworkers' Union (NBRU), which has the support of SIPTU. The unions say Mr Brennan has not consulted them over his plans, a claim he denies. But while a detailed engagement has not yet begun, today's stoppage indicates how difficult it will be to implement this reform process.
Mr Brennan's intentions are clear. With the State paying more than €673 million in capital and operating grants to CIÉ in 2001, his principal objective is to reduce the hand-outs. Poor public transport flows from decades of chronic underfunding but the Government wants better value for money from the CIÉ companies.
To achieve this, Mr Brennan wants to split up the group to ensure a more transparent dispersal of funds and, hopefully, a better quality of service. Crucially, he wants to inject competitive rigour into the bus market in Dublin by opening 25 per cent of existing routes to competition by next year.
This horrifies the unions, who argue that it runs contrary to their agreement at the Public Transport Partnership Forum to open only new routes in Dublin to competition. Mr Brennan says he has a new mandate and is not for turning. The unions cite the botched privatisation of certain bus services in Britain.
But if the introduction of competition is managed correctly, it should be welcomed. The liberalisation of the airline and taxi markets has already brought huge benefits to the travelling public. These were delivered despite opposition from incumbents who argued that competition would never work.
In addition, competition is already thriving in the regional bus market. Independent operators are also servicing the Dublin market, but to a lesser extent. It is as well to recognise that fact and establish the market on a sound legal footing. Bus Éireann has performed quite well in the competitive market and there is no reason to believe Dublin Bus could not do so.
In the interest of passengers, Mr Brennan should do all in his power to avoid an outright confrontation with the CIÉ unions. But in their interest too, he should also proceed with his plan. Workers in many other State enterprises have accepted radical change in return for a payback. That model is likely to be used in CIÉ once discussions begin.