The threat of a no-show by Arriva drivers tomorrow was averted as the transport company and the General Workers’ Union reached an agreement over drivers’ ­rosters.

Drivers had been complaining that, with the new rosters, issued earlier this week, they had to spend the better part of their day at work rather than work for eight hours and clock out. They were considering not showing up tomorrow, the day the new transport service is rolled out.

After eight hours of talks, the GWU and Arriva agreed workers should get €35 in compensation for every day they worked split shifts and that a new roster would be in place starting July 17.

Under the new roster, workers will not have “more than one day a week with a split shift” and for at least one third of their work schedule, drivers will either finish by 4 p.m. or start at 1 p.m., which would leave the rest of the day free.

“During intensive discussions, Arriva agreed the current shift was not sociable for workers,” the GWU said. The union will be involved in drafting the new roster.

Arriva managing director Keith Bastow said that while the rosters were “fully compliant with legal requirements” and with the contracts it had with Transport Malta and its staff, “they were considered to be of a temporary nature, with the intention of being revised in the coming weeks”.

Mr Bastow said the split shift system had two driving periods separated by a “long period” of free time.

“Following the discussions, our plans to revise the shift patterns have been brought forward to the end of July,” Mr Bastow said.

He said this was in no way considered a dispute with the employees or the unions and Arriva had not been informed of any industrial action in terms of law “and all employees are expected to report for duty as rostered. Our employees have already demonstrated a high level of commitment during their training with us and, like me, are looking forward to Sunday morning and the start of our new service to the public.”