Dublin Bus dispute - No easy way to reduce firm’s costs

The dispute at Dublin Bus will inevitably be settled.

All that remains at issue is how and when it will end and how much hardship will be inflicted on the semi-state company’s customers, especially those who rely on it to get to work, before normal services are restored.

The dispute is, unfortunately, a microcosm of the great and deeply divisive dilemma facing the country — to cut or not to cut, that is the question.

Dublin Bus workers believe that they are being unfairly targeted and are being asked to accept an unequal proportion of the cuts needed to secure a future, even a hugely subsidised one, for the company. Their position reflects that of more or less any group facing the prospect of reduced incomes or social supports after October’s budget.

In this instance, though, it is hard to accept that bus workers are being treated any worse than many others in the workforce, especially in the light of so many forced redundancies.

Company management are obliged to cut €11.7m a year to return the transport company to some sort of financial stability. They have, as precedent decrees, engaged in a long, terribly drawn-out process at the Labour Court to achieve this. A plan involving reduced overtime, reductions in bank holiday payments and in annual leave has been endorsed by the court but rejected by the unions. The proposals did not involve a cut to core pay rates which stand at something around €40,000 a year for drivers. It is thought the strike will cost the struggling company around €250,000 a day.

The threatened intervention by Irish Rail unions should the bus strike drag on does not help either. Rail unions last week overwhelmingly rejected cost-saving proposals, pointing to the €75.6m-a-year free transport scheme as an area to be considered before rail workers’ pay is cut. This is a socially valuable scheme worth defending and actual costs, not nebulous figures based on possible lost revenues, should be established before that proposal is even considered.

Be that as it may, bus and rail management must find savings because, just like the country, the gap between income and expenditure must be narrowed, if not completely closed. That, as this weekend’s events have shown, cannot be achieved easily or without taking hard decisions that impact on people’s lives.

Yesterday, insisting that he would not become directly involved in the dispute, Transport Minister Leo Varadkar called on unions to end the strike. Considering the length of time it is taking to resolve issues at the company this response could be described as mild mannered and diplomatic. Commuters left high and dry by the strike may not respond as calmly or as philosophically.

The unfortunate reality is, and it is one faced by many workers and families around the country, is that arrangements based on endless subsidies or borrowed money cannot be sustained any longer. In this context, and in light of the fact that their jobs are guaranteed, Dublin Bus workers should heed Mr Varadkar’s advice. It may be a bitter pill to swallow but, as many others can testify, the alternative may be even less attractive.