WRC to invite Bus Éireann sides to talks on condition of no wildcat strikes

The Workplace Relations Commission is expected to invite unions and management at Bus Éireann to talks in the days ahead in a further attempt to find a resolution to the current strike and the financial crisis at the company.

However, it is understood that any intervention by the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) will be absolutely conditional on there being no repeat of the wildcat strikes, which halted Dublin Bus and train services on Friday morning.

About 2,600 staff at Bus Éireann have been on official strike for the last 10 days over moves by management to introduce new efficiency measures and work practice reforms without agreement.

The company said the moves are essential if it is to stave off impending insolvency.

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Two previous rounds of talks at the WRC aimed at resolving the crisis at Bus Éireann have ended unsuccessfully.

The CIE group, representing Dublin Bus and Iarnród Éireann, has warned it planned to seek potentially millions of euro in compensation from the National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU) over what it described as “unlawful picketing” at the two companies which were not party to the dispute last Friday morning.

Dublin Bus and Iarnród Éireann, as well as Bus Éireann, all form part of the overall State-owned CIE transport group.

The NBRU has insisted it did not know in advance of the secondary pickets at Dublin Bus and Iarnród Éireann premises on Friday that caused major transport disruption in Dublin and elsewhere.

In a letter sent to the NBRU on Friday, the CIE group said losses experienced by Dublin Bus and Iarnród Éireann could run into millions of euro in fare revenue while the companies would also face fines running to hundreds of thousands of euro from the National Transport Authority.

Such fines will be for failing to provide services for which are funded by means of State subventions to the companies.

“It is clear that having regard to the manner in which this activity was co-ordinated, and having regard to the change in picketing activity, that this unlawful activity was organised by your union, its officials and members,” the letter said.

The letter from the CIE group solicitor said his clients had “collected considerable evidence of the role of your union, its officials and members in this activity and we will if necessary bring the entirety of that material to the attention of the Court”.

NBRU general secretary Dermot O’Leary said on Sunday that any allegations of wrongdoing on the part of his union would be comprehensively assessed by its legal advisors and it would responed accordingly.

He said the union’s focus at present was on finding a resolution to the dispute at Bus Éireann

Meanwhile, the general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions warned on Sunday the wildcat escalation of the Bus Éireann strike might delay a resolution of the dispute.

Speaking on RTÉ's Marian Finucane show, Patricia King described the unofficial stoppage that temporarily halted services at Iarnród Éireann and Dublin Bus on Friday as regrettable.

She said the escalation may well have delayed any third party intervention by the WRC or the Labour Court, as the country's dispute resolution bodies did not respond to that kind of event.

Ms King also said she did not believe the Minister for Transport Shane Ross or any other Minister had a role in the WRC or the Labour Courtwhere industrial relations matter were taking place. She said these bodies were perfectly well capable of dealing with such issues.

She said the problem was that in the case of Bus Éireann, the Department of Transport had “taken a consistent view that it has no role to play at all”.

Ms King said alongside the industrial relations matters in the Bus Éireann dispute, there were key policy issues needed to be addressed.

She said the first of these policy issues was how the competition in the bus market should operate.