RAIL UNION: TIME FOR TALKING HAS COME AND GONE Negotiations will not save public from our planned strikes, says NBRU
THE first of the planned rail strikes is almost certain to go ahead this Wednesday, after one of the main unions involved dismissed the possibility of negotiations.
Hopes this week’s action could be averted by an intervention from the Workplace Relations Commission have been dashed by the National Bus and Rail Union, which insists that the opportunity for mediation has ‘come and gone’. Dermot O’Leary, the
general secretary of the NBRU, last night said ‘the focus’ of his union is to now ‘prosecute a mandate’ given by members, by holding strike action.
The NBRU has 650 members employed at the semi-State company. Almost 155,000 commuters rely on the country’s rail network on a daily basis.
The 24-hour strikes are planned for November 1, 7, 14, 23 and the traditional Christmas shopping day of December 8.
Ireland football fans will be particularly furious at the November 14 strike, which clashes with the crucial home-leg World Cup qualifier against Denmark.
Mr O’Leary’s insistence on the strikes going ahead was met with anger last night. The head of a commuters group accused the unions of choosing the busiest commuter days to strike.
Mark Gleeson, from Rail Users Ireland, said the dates were deliberately chosen to cause ‘maximum inconvenience’. This is something both unions have denied. Siptu said it was coincidental the World Cup qualifier fell on one of the days of action.
‘We are obviously very frustrated at this point. We want all parties to obviously call off the strike,’ Mr Gleeson said.
He said Irish Rail is underfunded and the Minister for Transport, Shane Ross, needs to
‘Should never have got this far’
address the financial problem.
‘I think all parties agree on that. We are waiting to see if the Minister is willing to cough up the money.’
Fianna Fáil’s transport spokesperson, Robert Troy TD, said the NBRU’s decision not to engage in further negotiations stems from a poor effort by Minister Ross to honour his word following bus strikes earlier this year.
Mr Troy said the situation ‘should never have got this far’.
He told the Mail: ‘The Minister gave cast-iron guarantees that he would set up a multi-stakeholder forum for public transport, which would have facilitated humble negotiations between the key stakeholders – the NTA, the union’s representatives, the workers, the Department – and he failed to do it.
‘I would ask [the unions] to reconsider because, at the end of the day, the only people that are going to be discommoded are the travelling public who rely on their services so badly.’
The Mail last week revealed how a senior union source warned that if a solution is not reached by the ‘fourth or fifth day’ of the stoppages, they may escalate action. These could include 48hour stoppages over the Christmas travel period.
The NBRU’s Mr O’Leary told the Mail: ‘The opportunity for Irish Rail to advance a credible pay offer to its staff at the WRC has, thanks to the behaviour of the CEO [David Franks], come and gone.’
The NBRU and Siptu have both consistently accused Mr Franks of pulling an offer of a reported 2.5% pay increase off the table in the most recent WRC discussions. They claim he was responsible for the process collapsing after 12 hours of talks.
Irish Rail has strongly refuted this and said the only offer on the table was for a one-year pay rise of 1.75% with productivity conditions attached.
It’s understood the unions are seeking pay increases of 3.75% per annum for three years, in line with a deal reached by staff at Dublin Bus earlier this year.
There are approximately 3,500 staff employed by the semi-State company which warns it is ‘on the brink of insolvency’.
The Mail previously revealed how the NBRU and Siptu have a combined strike ‘war chest’ of approximately €21million.
A spokesperson for Irish Rail described Mr O’Leary’s remarks as ‘personalised attacks’ which are being used to ‘distract from the fact that the unions have abandoned a process set out by the Labour Court itself ’. Irish Rail said this process ‘detailed that the Labour Court would hear and make a recommendation on any differences outstanding after WRC talks’.
When asked last week if it will invite the parties back in a bid to avert this week’s action, the WRC said it does ‘not comment’ on individual disputes’.
Siptu was also contacted by the Mail and asked if it would return to the WRC, but did not respond. Several attempts were made to contact Minister Ross but he, also, did not respond.