Staff already giving extra
TICKET inspector Declan Doherty believes the productivity Irish Rail management are looking for is already being given by workers on a daily basis.
He believes this is down to the loss of staff over the past decade.
“We’ve lost a lot of staff here over the last five, six, seven years. Anyone that took voluntary redundancy wasn’t replaced,” he says.
His own workload selling and inspecting tickets has increased due to the rise in the number of closed or unmanned stations he says.
“In my own line, there’s stations along the Sligo-Dublin line that are closed at 3 o’clock in the afternoon that we’re covering.
“Staff levels have been decimated here. IT’s not just at this depot but every depot along the line and at weekends. They’re on about increasing productivity but we’re giving productivity already and we feel we’re entitled to a pay rise for it.
“It’s a natural thing - you should get rewarded for what you do. That’s all we’re looking for. It’s as simple as that. Management seem to get pay rises and productivity pay rises down through the last four or five years but the guys doing the work on the ground don’t seem to get rewarded for what they’re doing,” says Declan.
He says that in Sligo, they’ve been reduced from a three man crew on a train down to a two man crew, or more often, just the train driver on his own, responsible for up to 900 passengers at a time.
“We’ve given a lot of productivity. There’s a lot of anti-social behaviour out there. There’s unmanned stations at night time, evenings, weekends - it’s a one man crew that dealing with all that,” says Declan.
“Any shortfall in staff has been picked up by the guys left behind. The goodwill has been shown by staff.
“No staff has ever refused (extra duties) over the last nine or ten years. So if they company are looking for more productivity for a pay rise, it’s totally wrong on their behalf,” he says.
“We have already given the extra productivity, every man and woman in this company, clerical and office staff - all have been reduced,” he adds.