Ireland -Almost complete bus strike brings results -May 16, 2013

Strike actions by the National Bus and Rail Union have completely paralysed the bus traffic. Government has invited the union to re-enter talks with the company. Both sides have indicated they are available for talks in the dispute, which centres on a proposal to introduce a €5 million cost-cutting plan. But, the trade union NBRU has said it is not reasonable to set preconditions to negotiations, such as requiring unions to come to the table with alternative cost-saving measures. After more than 26 hours of mediated negotiations, the parties found an agreement which ended the strike. The agreement, which will last for nineteen months, includes a larger pay cut for management and protects anti-social shift payments.

For more information, please contact the editor Jan Cremers, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) cbn-aias@uva.nl or the communications officer at the ETUI, Mariya Nikolova mnikolova@etui.org. For previous issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit http://www.etui.org/E-Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net.