MANAGEMENT at Bus Eireann has asked staff to accept drastic changes in work practices and a virtual end to overtime in a viability plan presented to the workforce yesterday.
The company needs to cut costs by over £6 million a year in order to finance a £25 million fleet renewal programme. Around 129 jobs are to be lost under the plan, but the bulk of the savings are to come from a severe reduction in the company's £5 million annual overtime bill.
SIPTU official Mr Ken Fleming said yesterday the union accepted that drastic changes were needed at Bus Eireann, but employees would not support a plan which did not involve compensation payments for loss of earnings. "They are not turkeys and it is not Christmas," he said yesterday.
Mr Fleming added that SIPTU had been told by Bus Eireann management the company had not approached the Government seeking financial support for restructuring.
The plan is based on the recommendations of management consultant Mr Bernard Somers, who carried out a review of the company.
It envisages the loss of 129 jobs, mostly among management staff through voluntary early retirement and redeployment, a Bus Eireann spokesman said.
Some maintenance staff will be redeployed as bus drivers, while some bus conductors will be offered jobs in security and other areas, he said.
Mr Fleming said some Bus Eireann depots faced closure under the plan and a number of drivers would be offered the opportunity to hire buses from the company and subcontract.
Bus Eireann said savings were needed to cope with greater competition. "Forthcoming EU legislation will require deregulation of public transport services. It will result in free access to the public transport market for all operators - whether Irish or foreign, State owned or privately owned," according to a statement issued yesterday.
Bus Eireann has bought 42 new buses over the last six months and plans to buy another 118 over the next 12 months. The programme will cost £25 million over four years, with £11 million spent this year.
The representatives of the 1,800 full time and 600 part time workers at Bus Eireann were briefed on the plan yesterday. Local management is to brief employees in the next few days.
The company hopes to reach agreement with the unions by September and will seek to have the package agreed in full. The two main unions representing workers at Bus Eireann are SIPTU and the National Bus and Rail Union.
Mr Tom Nash, of SIPTU, said yesterday that the National Negotiating Council of Bus Eireann would meet next week to consider a response.
The plan calls for an end to what it calls restrictive practices and "full flexibility and interchangeability between staff of various grades". Bus Eireann management is also to make greater use of outside contractors.
Bus Eireann is expected to report a loss of around £5.9 million for 1995, when the CIE group results are released later this month. It is projected to incur cumulative operating losses of £26 million over the next four years.
The structuring at Bus Eireann is part of a CIE wide initiative aimed at identifying savings of £30 million in overheads. Management consultant, Mr Leslie Buckley, was brought into Iarnrod Eireann in May with the task of finding savings of at least £10 million. An internal review at Dublin Bus is expected to find cuts of more than £7 million.
