South County Dublin council workers pledge to take further action in pay row

Outdoor staff employed by South Dublin County Council have pledged further industrial action over coming days after a number of scheduled weekly allowances were not paid with their Christmas wages.

Members of the outdoor workforce occupied the foyer of the council offices for four hours yesterday afternoon after they discovered their allowances had not been included in their pay packets.

A council statement confirmed “a number of staff from the council’s public realm section” were engaged in unofficial industrial action in the council buildings in Tallaght. The council estimated about 50 protesters were involved but those involved claimed there was up to 200.

The council said the protest related “to issues arising from the implementation of standard workplace procedures relating to accountability, traceability of work records and payroll reporting within the organisation”.

However, Siptu shop steward Frank Lee told The Irish Times the dispute over the compilation of timesheets had been ongoing for more than a month but was not of the workers' making.

Mr Lee said the dispute involved a management decision that in future foremen would fill in the timesheets of outdoor staff instead of clerical timekeepers. He said the foremen had resisted this change, as a result of which the council had decided not to pay allowances to outdoor staff.

“It is not even our dispute but our pay has been docked,” said Mr Lee.