Bus strike: Omens never looked good for late deal

From the start the omens did not look good for a last minute deal to avert the scheduled strike at Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann.

For the last few days the Labour Relations Commission had been privately in contact with the two unions involved in the dispute, the NBRU and Siptu, as well as with management at the two State-owned companies.

However no invitation was issued to formal talks aimed at resolving the row over the potential privatisation of bus routes currently operated by the State companies.

Highly-placed sources suggested the Commission believed a basis did not exist for a formal intervention that would produce a succesful outcome.

The view of some senior industrial relations individuals was that a number of the issues raised by the unions could in reality only be addressed in the political sphere rather than by management in the bus companies.

These included clarification as to the legislative position in regard to the potential for a further tranche of routes being put out to tender in 2019, calls for labour costs not to be considered as a factor in the route tendering process and proposals for a registered employment agreement which would put a legal floor on terms and conditions for staff.

The Minister for Transport Paschal Donohoe had addressed most of the immediate industrial relations issues earlier in the week when he gave assurances that no existing employee of the State bus companies would be forced to move to a private orerator even if Dublin Bus or Bus Éireann lost the rights to operate these existing services.

Some other key questions remained. For example under current plans in Waterford all Bus Éireann routes are being put out to tender. If the State company lost out, where would these staff go?

However despite the scepticism of a number of key industrial relations figures, Governent sources this morning seemed optimistic that a further attempt could be made to find a resolution.

Shortly before lunchtime the Labour Relations Commission did invite the parties to attend exploratory talks to determine whether there was indeed a basis for a formal intervention.

However the sceptics proved to be correct and engagement did not last long. Within 2½ hours the exploratory talks had collapsed with unions and management blaming each other for the breakdown.

Labour Relations Commission chief executive Kieran Mulvey said that having spoken to the parties, the LRC believed there was in fact no basis for a formal intervention at that stage.

At that point the strike, which will inconveneience hundreds of thousands of people and damage the financial position of State bus companies only recovering from the recession, was unstoppable.

A further five days of strikes are planned for the weeks ahead over the bus route tendering controversy and it seems inconceivable that these could go ahead without some further talks process being attempted.

However the key issue as to whether a resolution can be found exclusively in an industrial relations forum is likely to remain.