Commuters facing fresh travel chaos
Unions at Irish Rail push for a pay rise and warn members will strike to get it
TENS of thousands of Irish Rail customers could face weeks of travel misery if the company and unions fail to agree on a pay row in the coming days.
Both sides are due before the Workplace Relations Commission next Wednesday.
The biggest unions, Siptu and the NBRU, want the cashstrapped rail company to make a serious pay offer.
If they fail to get one, they told the Irish Daily Mail last night, they are going to order ballots for industrial action.
Results of those ballots could take between seven to ten days and any action could take place within two weeks. This could be anything from work-to-rule, short stoppages to all-out strike.
As well as 1.15% pay rise for drivers, which has been agreed but not paid out by Irish Rail, the NBRU wants a 3.75% pay-rise for all Irish Rail workers.
NBRU general secretary Dermot O’Leary said: ‘If there is not a credible offer on the table next Wednesday, we will order an immediate ballot for industrial action.’
Siptu organiser Paul Cullen said last night: ‘Irish Rail are going to have to put a flat rate increase offer on the table next week.
‘If that is not possible, we will immediately seek a mandate from our members in relation to industrial action. As to what form that would take, it would be down to our members.’
Back in April, services from 15 main rail depots were halted by flying pickets made up of Bus Éireann workers from both the NBRU and Siptu.
They also targeted the seven Dublin Bus depots, infuriating commuters caught up in the increasingly fraught crossfire of a bitter dispute at the time.
Commuters were left scrambling to make alternative plans after they woke to find secondary pickets by just 200 striking Bus Éireann workers had stopped Irish Rail, Dublin Bus and Dart services from operating.
With as many as 500,000 using Dublin Bus and Irish Rail services daily, commuters were appalled, and 120,000 bus passengers in the capital were affected along with 60,000 who regularly travel by train.
This was on top of the 100,000 already struggling to get around because of the Bus Éireann stoppages at the time.
Irish Rail spokesman Barry Kenny last night said that following the engagement between both sides, the Labour Court had asked them to try and resolve matters over a five-week period. That period ends on Wednesday.
‘The Labour Court has said that any unresolved issue at the end of that timeframe should be referred back to the Court for final recommendation,’ Mr Kenny has said. ‘We attended the WRC [Workplace Relations Commission] on September 4 and 5, and
‘Swift ballot for industrial action’ ‘Irish Rail has €125m of losses’
adjourned to develop proposals and will return this Wednesday.
‘We will positively engage at the WRC and trust our trade unions will do so also.’
Irish Rail has said it is facing insolvency, however, it was recently revealed that the firm agreed to spend €20,000 on a fishing trip that eight employees, including chief executive David Franks, were booked to attend this week. Irish Rail said the trip was part of a work-life balance initiative for staff.
The Irish Daily Mail has repeatedly asked the company about its detailed budget for such initiatives. It declined again last night to provide it.
The 2016 Rail Review Report has given an indication of the firm’s finances.
It stated: ‘For the period 2009 to 2015, Iarnród Éireann has incurred accumulated losses of €125.1million despite delivering €76million in cost savings.
‘The accumulated losses were incurred primarily as a result of reduced Exchequer funding and falling passenger numbers.
‘The net result... has been to weaken the balance sheet to the point where it is not possible to incur any losses in the future without risking insolvency.’