Bus Eireann has told the Labour Court that it has made a loss of €4.2m last year “and was projecting similar losses for 2025”.
That is according to the Labour Court which has recommended a combined pay increase of 6.75% over a two year period to the end of December 2026, along with a pay voucher of €500, for Bus Eireann’s 3,200 workers.
The pay-row came before the Labour Court after the 3,200 workers represented by the NBRU, SIPTU, UNITE THE UNION, TSSA, CONNECT rejected pay proposals put forward by the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) by 64% to 36%.
The unions stated that the 3% pay increase on offer for each year of the pay proposals was not sufficient or adequate to meet their aspirations.
The unions were looking for a straight pay increase comparable with other CIE companies and one that would provide pay parity with Dublin Bus.
The unions valued pay parity as requiring an increase of 12.7%.
In response, Bus Eireann stated that the current pay proposal represents the very limit of what can be offered in a pay proposal and is reasonable, if not significant, in the context of what is affordable to the company.
Bus Eireann told the Labour Court that they believe that in terms of the marketplace it was a very reasonable offer.
Bus Eireann set out the cumulative cost of the proposal that was balloted on “and stressed that it had made a loss of €4.2m in 2024 and was projecting similar losses for 2025”.
Bus Eireann also submitted that the proposal included other improvements to terms and conditions which were valued at 1% of pay per year with some groups benefiting from other changes and stated that the percentage increases should not be looked at in isolation.
In its recommendation, deputy chairwoman at the Labour Court, Louise O’Reilly stated that the pay increase is made up of a 3.5% and a €500 voucher effective from January 1st this year.
A further pay increase of 3.25% to be effective from January 1st 2026 and the €500 voucher to be payable to those employed on January 1st 2025 and remaining in employment at the date of acceptance of recommendation.
Ms O’Reilly said that the pay deal is to expire on December 31st 2026 and the parties agree to engage no later than four months before the expiry of this deal to secure a successor.
Reporting by Gordon Deegan
