Fire the Luas workers if they won’t do a deal

The Luas workers held the public to ransom again with their strike over Easter Sunday and Monday.

This is despite the fact that they were offered a generous package of pay increases in excess of what any employer, private or public, would give. Setting aside the question of whether this important but largely unskilled job should command a salary similar to a doctor or solicitor, it might be worthwhile for Paschal Donohoe to consider what former US president Ronald Reagan did in a similar problem of a far greater scale — the strike of air traffic control staff in August of 1981.

The strike was illegal, because according to US federal law, government employees are forbidden to strike. Reagan gave them an ultimatum to return to work in 48 hours, or forfeit their jobs.

We have 167 striking Luas workers.

To put this challenge into perspective, it is worth noting that Reagan fired 11,345 employees and swiftly began the process of rehiring, training (which took 3 years) and filling positions temporarily with retirees and military personnel.

If a similar type of option cannot be considered on behalf of the Irish public, then it starkly illustrates the difference between the realities of private jobs held in the free-market economy and the fantasy-world of many cosseted, self-preserving roles in the public sector.

Mark Hickey,

‘Baytown’,

Irishtown,

Dublin 4