The staffing dispute that sparked Monday?s eight-hour bus strike has been resolved, union and Public Transportation Board officials have confirmed.

The Island?s buses stood idle for the second day running yesterday morning while around 180 drivers and garage personnel from the Bus Operators and Allied Workers Division of the Bermuda Industrial Union discussed the matter.

Tourists and commuters were left stranded across the Island between 10 a.m. until 11.40 a.m. while the meeting took place at the PTB?s Devonshire headquarters. However, following further talks between the union PTB and Labour Department, BIU president Chris Furbert and PTB director Dann Simmons confirmed the matter had been resolved.

The dispute stemmed from an appointment made by the Public Transportation Board to a newly-created position of ?supervisory craft foreman? within the body shop.

Two internal candidates applied for the position and the person the union considered to be less senior was appointed, said Mr. Furbert on Monday.

He added that the matter was referred to the Labour Relations Office ? which is why the union was aggrieved when the chosen candidate was appointed in an ?acting? capacity on Sunday.

Speaking yesterday afternoon, Mr. Furbert said the disputed foreman?s position had been dropped by PTB management, to the satisfaction of the union.

However, he hit out at both the PTB and the Labour Department over what he said was a breach of the collective bargaining agreement which required the union to be consulted over new appointments.

?What happened on Monday was not pleasant ... but this whole situation was not created by the BIU. The BIU is getting all the heat for what happened. We have had to down tools to get someone?s attention.

It should not have come to that,? he said.

Mr. Furbert claimed that Mr. Simmons had refused to talk to union divisional officers about the situation, meaning workers felt they had no choice but to strike. And he warned: ?Do not take the BIU for granted.?

Mr. Simmons said: ?The job has been withdrawn and we have come to an agreement satisfactory to both parties.?

PTB workers emerging from yesterday?s meeting at headquarters expressed anger with PTB bosses. ?This shouldn?t have happened,? said one.

Another expressed concern at the public perception of Monday?s strike action. ?We did not walk off the job. The service stopped, but we discussed what was going on,? said Ronue Cann, a bus operator and tour guide.

He called for Mr. Simmons to be ?disciplined? by Tourism and Transport Minister Ewart Brown and Permanent Secretary Marc Telemaque for allegedly stepping outside the collective bargaining agreement, adding: ?he?s the one that cased all this chaos?.

Responding to this criticism from PTB workers, Mr. Simmons said: ?I don?t think they are part and parcel of all the information available.?

And of Mr. Furbert?s comments, he said: ?That?s a matter of perception. We?ve agreed to disagree.?

A Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs spokeswoman said the Labour Department did not wish to comment on the criticism.