The National Bus and Railworkers Union (NBRU) has decided to defer plans for industrial action this month.
The union called off the action after receiving an invitation from the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) to meet with other CIÉ unions over proposals by the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, to privatise routes.
At the beginning of the month the NBRU voted 94 per cent in favour of industrial action in protest at plans by the Minister to break up CIÉ. Members of SIPTU also voted overwhelmingly for industrial action while other unions are still balloting.
The plans to break up CIÉ would establish Bus Éireann, Iarnród Éireann and Dublin Bus as three independent companies. Mr Brennan has also signalled his intention to open up 25 per cent of the capital's bus market to competition by next January.
The NBRU represents 3,700 workers across the CIÉ group of companies.
Earlier today the NBRU received an invitation from ICTU to meet with other CIÉ unions on May 28th to co-ordinate strategy for industrial action. The NBRU, which represents a large proportion of bus and train drivers, is not a member of congress. However the NBRU has welcomed the invitation and will attend that meeting and seek to co-ordinate their own action with any proposals made then.
NBRU general secretary Mr Liam Tobin says breaking-up CIÉ will cost the taxpayer more than €500 million, "without putting a single extra bus or train in the system.
"We are not opposed to competition, indeed our members have been facing it for years in Bus Éireann and, increasingly, Dublin Bus, but it has to be done in the long term interests of the commuter and not just to accommodate private operators," said Mr Tobin.
"Already we have seen private companies given licences only to sell their businesses on to foreign multinationals based in Britain and Singapore," he added.