Rail users face strike chaos on bank holiday weekend

Thousands of rail users could be hit with strikes as soon as the October bank holiday weekend after talks on pay increases for Irish Rail staff broke down at the Workplace Relations Commission last night.

Unions, including the two main driver unions, the National Bus and Rail Union and Siptu, went into the talks seeking a 3.75% pay increase without any associated productivity measures. They said that in and around that figure had been achieved for Dublin Bus workers.

It is understood they were offered 1.5% accompanied by 19 different measures, including outsourcing of work, loss of contracted hours, relocation of staff, closure of booking offices, and new performance management systems.

Following a day of talks, unions emerged to accuse management of a “contemptuous attitude towards its staff in refusing to offer a meaningful ‘no strings attached’ pay rise after a decade-long pay freeze”.

“Our members have looked at colleagues in the public transport sector enjoying pay increases of up to 3.75%, while Irish Rail is thumbing its nose at its own staff by making a pitiful offer,” said Dermot O’Leary, general secretary of the NBRU.

He said that offer came at a time when passenger numbers and revenue at Irish Rail were at a historic high.

“The spectacle of highly paid senior managers being effectively gagged and restricted to offering ‘strings attached’ crumbs to its staff, including the disgraceful caveat of seeking union acquiescence to the closure of rail lines in order to fund a pay rise, has now brought frustration levels to the stage,” he said.

Mr O’Leary said unions were left with no choice but to immediately move to ballot members for industrial action up to and including an all-out strike, “resulting in widespread travel chaos for commuters in the next number of weeks”.

Siptu’s Greg Ennis said workers were no longer prepared to subsidise an underfunded public service in which subvention had been cut by 41% between 2008 and 2013.

Irish Rail management said it had put forward a range of efficiencies and options to generate savings “to deliver improved pay to employees.

“We feel there is scope for further talks and are willing to reconvene at any time,” said a spokesman.

The company said it is carrying accumulated debts of €160m and warned that insolvency is looming if it makes further losses.