Summer transport strikes ‘inevitable’

COMMUTERS will be faced with massive rail and bus disruption this summer unless Transport Minister Seamus Brennan scraps his plans to break up CIÉ, union leaders warn.

The majority of CIÉ workers in the SIPTU union voted for strike action yesterday, in protest at the plans.

SIPTU workers are against the move because they believe it could threaten their job security and ruin the public transport system, in the same way that privatisation wrecked the British public transport system.

SIPTU national industrial secretary Noel Dowling said that a strike was inevitable this summer unless the minister changed his mind, but he stressed that CIÉ workers would not hit the Special Olympics or State exams. Following the vote, SIPTU yesterday served a month’s notice of industrial action on the CIÉ companies.

The National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU) has already received a mandate from its workers for industrial action, and its national executive will meet on Tuesday to decide how to proceed. A joint meeting of all unions representing CIÉ workers will be held on May 28 to decide what form the industrial action should take.

But Mr Brennan seems determined to push ahead with the break -up of CIÉ. While he has already held a series of meetings with the CIÉ unions, he infuriated some union leaders with his public declaration that he expects a “summer of discontent”.

The Government met with key Irish Congress of Trade Union leaders this week to discuss the CIÉ proposals. But after a “frank exchange of views”, the talks broke up with no resolution.