THE pay dispute between Metro Tasmania and its bus drivers could escalate into 24-hour strikes after the breakdown of talks yesterday.
Drivers are attending stopwork meetings today, with disruptions to Metro services in Burnie this morning and Launceston and Hobart in the middle of the day.
Their union also has raised the possibility of 24-hour strikes in the next couple of weeks.
Rail, Tram and Bus Union branch secretary Samantha Simonetis yesterday said drivers were "gobsmacked" by the latest Metro offer of an annual pay rise of 2.1 per cent over three years.
"We were gutted," Mrs Simonetis said. "It's an insult. The talks were all over within an hour. When we told some of our members, they wanted to ramp up industrial action right now."
Metro chief executive Heather Haselgrove said the company did not have the financial capacity to meet the union demand for a 3 per cent pay increase each year over three years.
She said Metro would put a revised offer directly to employees next week and hoped they would accept it.
Mrs Simonetis said that was unlikely.
"Last time, 86.7 per cent of the drivers rejected the 2 per cent offer," she said. "If they think drivers are going to give up, they are in for one hell of a shock."
Ms Haselgrove said the offer was substantially above Hobart's inflation rate.
"Metro is also offering to compress current wage classification so that all drivers will achieve the highest pay level after being with Metro for three years and attaining a Certificate III in Transport and Logistics. It currently takes 10 years of service to achieve the top level," she said.
Sustainable Transport Minister Nick McKim said, despite Opposition calls, he would not intervene.
"I truly hope that this matter can be resolved sooner rather than later. The Metro drivers do a fantastic job ... but the simple fact is that the other major unions in Tasmania have all signed up to a 2 per cent pay rise, as have politicians," he said.
Mrs Simonetis said stop-work meetings were planned at the Hobart and Launceston depots from 1 to 2pm today causing disruption to services between 11.30am and 3pm. The Burnie meeting would be from 10 to 11am, with disruptions from 8.30am to noon.
Metro said its legal advice was that it did not have the capacity to refer the dispute to Fair Work Australia.
The Tasmanian Bus Association said privately operated bus services would not be affected.