Threatened industrial action by 200 Iarnród Éireann staff in Cork, which would have led to the cancellation of rail services out of Cork starting today, has been suspended pending agreement by both management and SIPTU to meet for talks.
It was feared that up to 8,000 rail passengers, including those using mainline services out of Cork and Kerry as well as commuters in Cobh and Mallow, would have been affected by the threatened action which was due to begin at midnight last night.
Among those who would have been affected were mainline passengers travelling from Cork to Dublin for the U2 concerts as well as racing fans travelling to the Curragh on Saturday for the Irish Derby and hurling fans travelling to Cork on Sunday for the Munster hurling final.
The decision by SIPTU to serve strike notice on Iarnród Éireann came four weeks ago and and followed the decision by the company not to reinstate a Cork-based ticket collector dismissed by the company in December 2002.
Iarnród Éireann had dismissed the man after he had been the subject of a disciplinary hearing over ticketing irregularities and he was given a final warning. He was subsequently the subject of a second disciplinary hearing which resulted in the company dismissing him. The man lost two internal appeals but took his case for unfair dismissal to the Employment Appeals Tribunal who unanimously ordered the company in January 2005 to reinstate him. The company decided not to do this pending an appeal to the Circuit Court.
This led to SIPTU members voting overwhelmingly four weeks ago for strike action in support of their colleague but after the Labour Relations Commission invited both sides for talks yesterday, SIPTU decided to suspend strike action pending talks with management.
SIPTU branch secretary John Pearson said he was confident a resolution would be reached.