Motorists in Limerick city have been enjoying a reprieve from parking tickets as a consequence of a dispute between the city council and its traffic wardens, writes David Labanyi
This is the third week of the dispute that has seen the city's traffic wardens refuse to operate new handheld machines introduced in August 2005 to issue parking tickets.
Because of the Siptu members' refusal to use the handheld machines, Limerick council was forced to source parking notebooks and during this time the city's wardens patrolled the streets but did not issue parking tickets because they had no means to do so. During this time the city's wardens were on full pay. It was almost two weeks before paper parking notebooks were delivered last Friday and wardens started using the ticket books on Monday.
However, local Siptu organiser Ger Kennedy, said that using the paper-based notebooks was significantly more time consuming than the handheld machines, meaning a drop in the number of tickets issued was "a possibility".
Mr Kennedy also said that because the ticket books secured by the council were not of the standard type, there was concern that parking fines issued using these books may not stand up.
He said this is because the new books do not refer specifically to the by-law breached. He added that the new paper docket has no space for the warden to take note of the details of the offence.
Mr Kennedy says that as word of the traffic wardens dispute spread, sales of the pay and display parking discs required by motorists parking in the city plummeted.
He said that each ticket warden would normally issue between 10 and 12 tickets a day, resulting in fines of between €40 and €60 for each offence. During the dispute a supervisor has been working as normal, ticketing vehicles illegally or improperly parked. The dispute, which has been before the Labour Relations Commission and the Labour Court, centres on the willingness of some council staff to transfer to other departments.
About 80 Limerick city council staff are involved, including the parking wardens. The final benchmarking payment and the last three instalments of Sustaining Progress have not been paid, pending agreement on this final issue. Using the machines was part of the changes in work practices agreed by staff as part of the pay increases.