Bus drivers, members of Siptu and the NBRU, have refused to operate two new cross-city services because it will mean starting, finishing and taking their breaks in the city centre as opposed to the Harristown depot in north Dublin. The drivers say this will lengthen their working day and claim that Dublin Bus is in breach of an agreement that they should start and finish their shifts in Harristown. Dublin Bus denies the existence of any such agreement.

Labour Court chairman Kevin Duffy, who issued a recommendation backing management's stand two weeks ago, called all parties into a special hearing to try and resolve the increasingly bitter dispute.

Michael Faherty, general secretary of the Nbru union last week accused some of his own driver members in Harristown of "hijacking" the dispute for their own political ends.

There was better news for flyers yesterday as a meeting of Siptu shop stewards looked set to back proposals by the high-powered dispute settling body, the National Implementation Body, (NIB) to call off next Tuesday's planned strike action at Aer Lingus.

After the NIB talks concluded on Friday, Aer Lingus agreed to cancel new inferior employment contracts until such time as a "forensic examination" of the company's 20m cost-cutting programme is concluded by independent consultants.

The NIB, which is headed up by Bertie Ahern's secretary-general, Dermot McCarthy, will report back to all sides on 3 December with any recommendations on how the cutbacks impact on workers' earnings. This is the fourth time this year that strike action at Aer Lingus has been averted at the eleventh hour.