Travel chaos as strikes loom

PUBLIC transport services will grind to a halt from midnight on St Patrick's Day after SIPTU members of CIÉ announced a 24-hour strike last night.

Travel to and from the country could virtually cease for the same period if SIPTU today decides to extend industrial action to the airports.

Union members at Shannon have already threatened to strike in or around St Patrick's Day if Aer Lingus proceeds with plans to seek 102 voluntary redundancies among baggage-handlers.

A wider strike at all the airports, to protest Government plans to break up Aer Rianta and establish Dublin, Cork and Shannon as autonomous airports, is also on the cards for March 18.

SIPTU will this morning meet Aer Lingus management to discuss the baggage-handler issue, while later today the union will decide whether to proceed with the Aer Rianta strike.

6,000 SIPTU members in Dublin Bus, Bus Éireann and Iarnród Éireann will stop working from midnight on St Patrick's Day until midnight on March 18.

The strike comes as a result of yet another breakdown in talks between the union and Transport Minister Seamus Brennan.

SIPTU and the National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU) are resisting plans to break up CIÉ and franchise out Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann routes, fearing the impact this will have on their members.

The NBRU held a stoppage last month, and despite the appointment of an independent talks chairman, the sides are no nearer to reaching agreement.

The union believes the talks now "lack credibility" following Mr Brennan's statements at last weekend's Fianna Fáil Árd Fheis, when he reiterated his view that franchising was the best way to open up the bus market to competition.

"The members had previously deferred industrial action at the minister's invitation to enter talks to consider alternatives to franchising ... his weekend remarks are seen as undermining that commitment," said SIPTU national industrial secretary Michael Halpenny.

But a spokeswoman for the minister said the strike made "no sense" and was completely unjustified.

"There have been meetings under the independent chairperson and all of those meetings have been very useful and productive, and a further meeting had been planned for March 18.

"The minister has stated publicly his view that franchising is the most effective way of achieving genuine market opening," she said.

"He has also stated that he remains open to additional suggestions, provided they are directed at achieving the same objective," she said.

Mr Brennan has already said he believes CIÉ could be broken up without the terms and conditions of staff being affected.