Security staff ’s pay demand raises new Luas strike fears

ANOTHER Luas tram strike is looming in a row over pay rises for security staff. Siptu members voted against a Labour Court recommendation suggesting a 6% pay rise over the next 18 months.

Siptu chiefs have been reluctant to get involved in another tram strike after the bruising five-month dispute by 172 drivers, even though some security employees are keen to move towards industrial action.

The proposed pay rise works out at 3% a year, which is roughly similar to the 3% to 4% achieved by the drivers.

Security staff wanted a rise of around 30% to bring them to the same hourly rate of €13.84 earned by Iarnród Éireann’s Dart security staff. They were somewhat outmanoeuvred this week when STT Risk Management, which has the security contract with Luas operator Transdev, implemented the pay rises recommended by the Labour Court.

STT is a contractor to Transdev and the pay issue for security staff is separate to the recent drivers’ dispute. But both STT management and Siptu union officials were watching the bitter drivers’ dispute closely, and the lack of public support or sympathy for the drivers’ 40% pay rise claim may have cautioned the union from any quick strike ballot.

The current basic hourly rate for security staff rate is €10.75.

The first stage in the Labour Court’s recommendation is the implementation of a 40c per hour allowance back-dated to the start of this year. This would be followed by an extra 10c per hour from January 2017, and a further 15c per hour from the beginning of 2018.

Soon after the court’s recommendation had been rejected by the workers, some of them expected a ballot for industrial action. This has been denied by the currently strike-a-verse Siptu.