Leaders of the two main Dublin Bus unions are to hold a public meeting tomorrow to outline their opposition to plans by the Minister for Transport to break up the CIE group.
Both SIPTU and the National Bus and Railworkers' Union have voted for strike action over the plans, which they say would see a quarter of all Dublin Bus routes handed over to private firms.
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While it is understood that no strike action is likely for the next month, union sources said it appeared there was now no room for manoeuvre between the two sides and that industrial action would go ahead during the summer.
The strikes are expected to affect all CIE companies including DART, rail and bus.
One bus driver involved in tomorrow's event, which takes place at the Teachers' Club at 8 p.m., said the meeting was set up to inform members of the public about the likely result of breaking up CIE.
Mr Owen McCormack said that three companies in Britain now had a "virtual monopoly" over bus services and that usage of bus routes, apart from those in London, had "collapsed" since privatisation.
"People are been misled by this government. Competition will not solve our transport problems and breaking up CIE resolves nothing. Decades of underfunding and government mismanagement of the company have snowballed to the present crisis. But CIE workers are determined not to be used as scapegoats for government policies that led us here."
He told ireland.com: "I think there's a crisis coming. There are no real negotiations going on and there's no real space to negotiate," he said.