Peace talks resume in 12-day ATM row
Unless the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) talks make progress the dispute could escalate to other parts of the country and extend to all cash in transit services.
Failing progress, shop stewards at Brink's Allied and other security companies will meet tomorrow to be balloted for industrial action across the country. They would then serve a week's strike notice to extend the dispute to Cork, Limerick and Galway as well as the eastern region.
"If the cash in transit is affected it means that large shipments of cash to and from bank branches and to and from large retailers and shopping centres would also be affected," a union source said last night. "Eventually, that would lead to a situation where you would have a big build-up of cash in some places and no cash in others. We'd be in very big trouble; we'd have a cash famine, basically."
Trade union leader Kevin McMahon warned the Brink's Allied dispute had reached "a critical turning point". The row is over Brink's proposal to scrap existing security vans and replace them with imported Dutch vehicles. The union insists the dispute concerns health and safety fears.
Mr McMahon, SIPTU security services branch secretary, said the dispute had wider ramifications for the whole cash in transit industry in Ireland.
Up to 200 of the country's 2,250 "hole in the wall" cash dispensing machines have run out of cash. People in some towns in Louth, Wicklow, Wexford and east Dublin have to travel up to 10 kilometres to find the nearest working machine.
SIPTU represents the 80 staff involved in the dispute. The union, which has not authorised industrial action, insists the action by members is being taken over health and safety issues.
Mr McMahon recalled that all the employers in the security industry had agreed at their meeting with SIPTU on July 22 that promotion of best practice was the only viable response to the growing spate of armed robberies. SIPTU, he added, had argued that a technological leap forward was required for cash services in Ireland, such as in use internationally.
"These systems make it next to impossible to steal cash during CIT (cash in transit) transportation and replenishment of ATMs," said Mr McMahon.
He said no mention was made at that meeting by Brink's of the introduction of the four Dutch vehicles, or the controversial "drive away" policy. Here the company proposes the driver of the vehicle should leave the scene of an incident and abandon his colleague.
Mr McMahon said there was a danger that Brink's' "solo run" could prevent what was an urgently needed industry-wide initiative from getting off the ground.
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