ATGWU rail strike looming

The Government has been urged to seek official intervention in an effort to avert tomorrow's planned rail strike.

Fine Gael's Jim Higgins said Public Enterprise Minister Mary O'Rourke should call on the Labour Relations Commission and the Labour Court to mediate between the ATGWU and Iarnrod Eireann in a continuing dispute over recognition.

The 100 or so ATGWU train drivers, formerly members of the breakway Irish Locomotive Drivers Association, are striking because the company won't recognise their union.

The ILDA went on strike for 10 weeks last year after refusing to co-operate with new rosters and pay structures at Iarnrod Eireann.

Their union was unrecognised and they had no bargaining power during that dispute, so last March, they joined the ATGWU.

However, Iarnrod Eireann has also refused to recognise the ATGWU, saying to recognise a third union in the company would set a precedent for a fourth or even a fifth union to come on board.