About 190 bus maintenance workers at Dublin Bus are due to commence a work to rule and overtime ban on Sunday evening with the potential for some disruption to services over the course of next week.
The dispute involves staff who are not craft workers but are employed in a range of roles connected with overnight cleaning and maintenance as well as those who drive replacement buses to locations where one in service has broken down.
The workers, who are members of Siptu, are seeking pay parity with another group of workers on a higher grade, as a result of a number of previous changes to grades and, they contend, an erosion in the difference between the roles involved.
The union says an independent assessment of the claim was positive but the company has contested it and in November the Labour Court said it could see no way to justify what would amount to a 14.5 per cent pay increase.
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It said the company and unions had agreed last March that any increases outside of normal pay rounds would have to be self-funded but suggested the union had rejected proposals from the company regarding possible changes that would have generated increased productivity.
It said both sides should resume talks on a 4.5 per cent increase that would be linked to productivity increases. No agreement on any of the issues involved has been reached since and the staff are expected to proceed with the action as night shifts begin at 9pm on Sunday at garages across the city.
Neither side has indicated any significant disruption should be expected over the first 24 hours but some additional cancellations may occur from Tuesday morning as buses are not ready to go back into service or replacements are delayed.
Further talks on the dispute are expected to take place early next week.
