§ Mr. Stratton Millsasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when the proposed merger of the road passenger undertaking of the Belfast Corporation and Ulsterbus will take place.
420W
§ Mr. WhitelawThere have been lengthy negotiations between the management and the trade unions concerned about the terms and conditions of employment which would apply in a merged road passenger undertaking under the ownership and financial control of the Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company. It was not, however, possible to reach agreement on these matters before 1st April 1973—the intended date of the merger.
Accordingly, it has been agreed that the Belfast Corporation bus undertaking will be transferred by the Transfer of Functions Order under the Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 1972 to the Holding Company on 2nd April 1973. The existing terms and conditions of employment will continue to apply to the transferred staff pending further negotiations between management and trade unions.
An immediate payment of £1 million to the Belfast Corporation has been authorised which, with the £750,000 reported to the House on 26th May 1972, is intended to deal with the losses of the Corporation undertaking up to 1st April 1973. In order to ensure that essential bus services can be maintained in Belfast, further financial assistance after 1st April will be necessary. Until the further negotiations between management and trade unions have been completed, I am not able to forecast an exact date for the proposed merger.