Clerical and managerial staff at Bus Éireann have decisively rejected Labour Court recommendations to deal with a deteriorating financial situation at the State-owned transport company.
The Labour Court proposals involved increased hours for staff as well as cuts to allowances and overtime and reductions in annual leave. The white–collar TSSA union said today that its 240 members in clerical and managerial grades at Bus Éireann had voted by 3:1 against the Labour Court proposals.
"This is a clear statement from our members that they will not be bullied or intimidated by senior management at Bus Éireann," the union's Irish organiser Jim Kavanagh said.
"They are being asked to bear all the pain while those at the top keep all their gains. It simply won't wash this time around."
The TSSA said a meeting would be held with the other unions at Bus Éireann after March 7th – when Siptu is due to announce the results of its ballot on the Labour Court recommendation - to decide the next step.
TSSA general secretary Manuel Cortes said:"We still want to negotiate a settlement which is fair to all sides but our members are telling management loud and clear-if we have to fight for justice in the work place we will."
Bus Éireann warned staff last week that if they undertook industrial they might have no jobs to return to when it was over.
In a letter to employees, company chief executive Martin Nolan said: "Unlike those directly employed in the public and civil service that would have jobs to return to after any industrial action, we may not."
The intervention of the Labour Court averted a threatened strike at Bus Éireann after management proposed unilaterally implementing a recovery plan to deal with its deteriorating financial situation.
