Though no announcement had yet been made at the time of writing, sources told the Times of Malta the prospect of a bus strike was no longer looming.

Commenting at the end of another round of conciliation talks with Malta Public Transport, the General Workers’ Union’s designate general secretary Josef Bugeja told this newspaper yesterday afternoon a solution was “very close”.

Though he declined to give further details he said more talks were taking place, in the hope to finalise the deal.

The union had threatened to take industrial action if the operator would forge ahead with the implementation of the “unrealistic” work rosters. The changes are part and parcel of the first phase of the route network revamp which is planned to be rolled out tomorrow. The rest of the routes will be introduced in three further batches by the end of the year. Malta Public Transport had warned that failure to reach an agreement would mean the postponement of the new routes.

The operator accused the union of backtracking over a preliminary agreement which, it said, had been reached after four months of talks. On its part, the GWU had argued that the new rosters did not reflect the agreed parameters and would result in “unrealistic” schedules for its members.

It complained that, in some cases, bus drivers would not have time to take their break, especially if there were traffic delays.

Another bone of contention was the length of the shifts, with the drivers’ union lamenting that in some instances it would result in more than nine and a half hours of work.

The dispute risked escalating when the Union Ħaddiema Magħqudin on Thursday pledged to support its rival union if the GWU ordered industrial action.

Both of the unions have been involved in a bitter recognition dispute at the bus company for nearly a year.