Parking free-for-all on cards as clampers ponder strike

A PARKING free-for-all could be on the cards – with Dublin’s clampers voting to go on strike over a dispute with their employers over a wage increase.

The workers were balloted yesterday on whether they should strike over a 2.5 per cent pay increase, which the union said has been outstanding since 2011.

SIPTU members employed in Dublin Street Parking Services voted overwhelmingly for industrial action, up to and including strike action. Last night SIPTU’s Teresa Hannick said details will emerge in the next course of action to take in the capital this week.

‘The union will decide over the coming days the appropriate action to take in pursuit of our members’ pay claim,’ she said.

The company argued it could not pay the increase because it was not meeting ‘service levels’ required by Dublin City Council.

The council had set the company a target to clamp 60,000 vehicles a year.

The Labour Court last December recommended acceptance of proposals aimed at resolving the pay claim. Employees agreed to postpone the increase until 2013, but they still have not received the extra money.

Under the proposals, the company offered to pay staff a bonus of €2,000 each if the 60,000 target was reached this year.

If overall targets are not met, only individual clampers who manage to clamp 2,800 vehicles in a year will be rewarded.

For staff involved in towing vehicles instead of clamping, the target is 1,467 relocations or removals.

The bonus for individual achievement is lower at €635. Staff will also get a 1.5 per cent increase in pay if the 60,000 target is met in 2014 and 2015.

Previously, staff bonuses had been awarded on the basis of attendance at work.

Other performance-related benefits would allow staff to finish early if they clamp or tow a certain number of vehicles in one day.

Dublin City Council pays DSPS about €6.1million a year. But money taken in through clamp-release fees does not cover the cost and the service is run at a loss of some €2million annually to the council.

In his 2012 annual report, published last April, the council-appointed parking appeals officer Liam Keilthy said the €80 clamprelease fee would need to be increased to €130 if the council were to recover the costs of operating the service. But the fee, set in 1998, can only be altered by the Dáil.