TRADE UNIONS reacted angrily yesterday to Bus Éireann’s confirmation that it intends to make 322 of its 2,700 staff redundant and remove 150 buses from its 1,300-strong fleet.
It also plans to axe routes and trim its schedules from the beginning of March. Bus Éireann said the move was necessary to restore its finances to a break-even situation by the end of 2010.
The company is projecting losses of €30 million for 2009 in spite of a 13 per cent rise in its State subvention this year to €41 million. It expects to carry 90 million passengers this year, a reduction of 5-6 per cent on 2008.
Bus Éireann recorded an operating loss of €9 million in 2008.
“It is with regret that Bus Éireann has to take this action but it is unavoidable and necessary given the current economic environment,” it said.
News of the “cost-effectiveness plan” was outlined to shop stewards and union leaders at an 80-minute meeting yesterday at the Gresham Hotel in Dublin.
About 230 drivers will be made redundant, along with 31 clerical staff and 61 other staff.
Bus Éireann will cut 30 buses from its fleet in Cork, with 25 going in Dublin and 24 in Limerick. Depots in Athlone, Ballina, Dundalk, Galway, Sligo, Stranorlar, Tralee and Waterford will also lose buses.
Unions were informed that trainee staff would be let go with no redundancy payments. About 85 trainee drivers will be affected.
Michael Faherty, general secretary of the National Bus and Rail Union, slammed the move. “They are describing these people [trainees] as part-timers but by no stretch of the imagination are they part-timers,” he said.
