Industrial action ‘within weeks’ after rail talks stall

The entire rail network could be ground to a halt as early as the end of this month after talks between unions and Irish Rail broke down at the Labour Relations Commission last night.

Almost exactly a year ago the company sought to implement pay cuts blaming a reduction in annual income of over €108m since the onset of the economic crisis. Unions responded with two days of work stoppages which crippled services.

However, following 22 hours of talks over two days at the Labour Relations Commission (LRC), a deal was hammered out which reduced the duration of temporary pay cuts from 28 months to 25 months. It also committed the parties to attending a “cost management committee” and talks on productivity.