300 driving test candidates affected by strike

Further work stoppages by driver testers could be on the cards if there are no moves towards resolving a dispute with the Road Safety Authority (RSA) over outsourcing, the union Impact has warned.

Some 300 candidates for driving tests were affected yesterday by a strike by driver testers. Impact said it would give the RSA seven days’ notice of further stoppages.

It said the dispute centred on proposals by RSA management to outsource driver testing in breach of a Labour Court ruling which recommended the recruitment of a reserve body of qualified testers to avert any possible backlog in test applications.

It said management had instead moved to engage subcontractors instead of recruiting reserve staff.

The union said a Labour Court recommendation in January was rejected by driver testers because it made no provision for talks on outsourcing arrangements.

The RSA said it had set
up a reserve panel of driver testers "in order to address the large number of driving tests which have to be cancelled at short notice to the customer due to driver testers' unavailability to conduct tests at short notice".

The RSA said it had been
in full compliance with two Labour Court recommendations in all steps taken.