The Labour Court is to explore the scope for intervention in the Luas dispute, which has led to tram services being disrupted on 12 days.
The move came amid confusion last night over whether trade union Siptu would ballot for an all-out strike in the coming weeks.
The Labour Court has asked the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) and Luas operator Transdev to brief it next week on the dispute.
Parkgate St eerily quite without the #Luas ,commuters left to walk the tracks #justsaying pic.twitter.com/Aiirrpr6u7
— Tipperary Hse Dublin (@TippHseDub) May 20, 2016
#gridlock in Dublin. Just the 90,000 passengers affected by #luas strike. New levels of soundness being displayed by #luasdrivers - cheers!
— Marc Murphy (@marcbmurphy) May 20, 2016
It is understood that on the basis of these appraisals, the court will determine whether there is scope for it to intervene in the ongoing dispute.
Siptu is expected to meet Ictu general secretary Patricia King next week in advance of her talks with the court.
Meanwhile, sources said no decision had been taken by Siptu to hold a ballot for an all-out strike at the Dublin light rail system, despite claims by one shop steward that such a ballot would happen within two weeks.
Escalation
On Friday Siptu’s divisional organiser Owen Reidy said the shop stewards and members had a “comprehensive meeting” and “many of the workers said if at some stage in the future the shop stewards feel it necessary to escalate, they would support that”.
Union sources said this did not mean there would be an imminent ballot on an all-out strike at Luas.
This differs from a statement by Siptu shop steward Richard McCarthy to reporters following the meeting .
He said “We will be balloting our members in the next two weeks, in order to retaliate against the penalisation of drivers . . . so we will be balloting for an all-out.”
A spokeswoman for Transdev last night said the company was waiting for “official correspondence from Siptu” and would “not be making further comment” .
Drivers have so far staged 12 one-day strikes while a series of four-hour stoppages are scheduled for next month.
They are seeking increases of about 23 per cent over the next three years.
Transdev has said it will offer no more than the 13 per cent over three years accepted by other grades of employees in the company.
Transdev has faced fines of up to €100,000 a day for failing to provide a Luas service on the days of strike.