Proposed deal puts Luas back on track for St Patrick’s Day

A potential deal worth up to nearly 19% for some Luas drivers has meant thousands of people heading to the St Patrick’s Day celebrations in Dublin today will be able to take a tram to get there.

After more than 26 hours of talks at the Workplace Relations Commission between Luas operator Transdev and its staff representatives finally yielded a proposed deal for three of the four grades within the company. Importantly, the organisation’s approximately 170 drivers are among those with whom a potential breakthrough has been achieved.

The traffic supervisor grade, of which there are 16 staff members, has still not reached an agreement, though it is believed they are close. They will still be on strike today, but that will not impact on the service.

It is believed the driver deal ranges from just over 9% to just under 19% over the next 33-36 months. The amount the drivers will get will be dependent on where they are on the incremental pay scale.

Willie Noone of Siptu pointed out that this would mean their long service was being recognised.

The maximum other grades within the company will get is believed to be in the region of 14.7%.

SIPTU organiser John Murphy said: “The WRC has produced proposals that it believes are the best achievable in relation to finding a solution to this dispute. On the basis of this progress the workers have decided to defer a work stoppage scheduled to take place tomorrow.

“Revenue protection officers, revenue protection supervisors and drivers will now consider the proposals in relation to their grade and vote on them in the coming days. In relation to the traffic supervisor grade progress has been made and we are hopeful a resolution can be achieved.”

One source close to the talks indicated that, while the deal which emerged was “progressive” compare to what else was available in the private sector, it was still “50-50” as to whether the ballots next week would yield positive results. The source said at one stage it was on a knife-edge as to whether enough progress would be made to allow the staff’s negotiating team to even accept bringing a proposed deal back to members.

Transdev managing director Gerry Madden said he hoped a deal with the traffic supervisor grade could be made over the course of “the next few days”.

Transport Minister Paschal Donohoe welcomed the fact the deals which had been done had been “achieved inside the terms of current contract with no additional cost to the taxpayer”. That is likely to reference productivity measures which have been agreed in conjunction with the pay increases.