BLACKPOOL Transport bosses met with union members on Thursday (June 8) in a last-ditch attempt to avert the transport chaos of an all-out bus strike planned for the weekend.

The meeting took place at 2pm with the Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU) members, management and the Government reconciliation organisation ACAS at the company's Rigby Road headquarters.

TGWU members including tram drivers and conductors are upset by management plans to introduce more part-time staff, something which they say will cut into their overtime.

The planned strike will start at 6pm tomorrow evening (June 9) and continue until Monday morning (June 12), a move which would cause severe transport problems throughout the Fylde coast area including the seafront trams.

A meeting between bosses, union members and ACAS has already taken place this week, but no solution was found.

A spokesperson for Blackpool Transport would not say how badly the service would be affected, but sources from inside the union say it could be almost 100 per cent effective. Anger from the union first erupted when they were informed that on top of 26 new full-time drivers, the company were also to employ 15 new part-time staff.

A union source told us: "Nothing at all came of the meeting on Tuesday, which lasted six hours.

"We are perfectly happy with the idea of employing more full-time staff.

"But in this job you can't really live on the basic wage -- you need the overtime.

"If they employ part-time staff they are more likely to use them to cover the extra hours as they will probably be paying them at a lower rate."

A spokesperson for Blackpool Transport was hopeful that today's (Thursday) meeting would prove fruitful.

"We want to reassure the union members that their jobs will be protected.

"We are talking about brand new jobs created -- we are not replacing members of staff.

"The part-time workers will be taken on with exactly the same contract as the full-time members of staff.

"The decision to employ the new staff members was made so we can be more flexible with our employment."