The Irish regional executive of the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union has condemned the suspension of its secretary, Mr Mick O'Reilly and Northern Ireland organiser, Mr Eugene McGloin.
It has also decided to withdraw ATGWU delegates from the Irish Congress of Trade Unions biennial conference in Bundoran next week. However a number of delegates, including those who are full-time union officials, are expected to attend.
Mr O'Reilly will not be there because of his suspension, on full pay, from union duties. He will also lose his seat on the ICTU executive as he must be present to run for office.
The reasons for his suspension remain unclear but they appear to relate mainly to internal organisational rows within the ATGWU's Northern Ireland district.
Mr McGloin's suspension is thought to be related to similar issues. It is likely to be at least two weeks before either man is given details of the complaints against them.
In Mr O'Reilly's case, at least one complaint is thought to relate to his handling of a disciplinary issue that was already in train before his appointment last year. That appointment took many observers by surprise.
About 60 per cent of ATGWU members are based in Northern Ireland and it had been expected that the Irish regional secretary would be chosen from full-time officials based in Belfast. There has been some residual bitterness over the result.
However, the decision of the regional executive, by a majority vote yesterday, to "unreservedly condemn" the suspension of the two officials; express "no confidence in the process which resulted in these suspensions"; and withdraw the union's ICTU delegation is unlikely to help Mr O'Reilly's case in London, or Mr McGloin's.
Comments on RTE by Mr Jimmy Kelly, a member of both the Irish regional executive and the national executive in London, about "developing an independent union" in Ireland more representative of working class people are also liable to be misinterpreted in London. Mr Kelly made it clear afterwards he was talking about promoting greater autonomy within the ATGWU and not a breakaway union.
Asked if a boycott of the ICTU conference would not be counter-productive, he said members were angry. "We felt we had to make a public gesture of solidarity" with the two men, he said. However it is understood there was some opposition to the motion, including the boycott of the Bundoran conference.
A spokesman for the union in London said no charges had yet been brought against the two men. The "precautionary suspensions" had been on the basis of an initial report carried out by the union's deputy general secretary, Ms Magaret Prosser. It was in the interests of natural justice to say nothing at this stage that would prejudice the outcome.
Meanwhile the Irish Locomotive Drivers' Association branch of the union issued a strong statement expressing its members' "outrage" at the suspension of the two men. It said that train-drivers had found Mr O'Reilly "to be a courageous, principled and honourable man and officer of this trade union".
ILDA support will not necessarily help Mr O'Reilly's case in London. His decision to recruit the dissident train-drivers - and become involved in a major row with SIPTU as a result - is thought to be a factor which led to his suspension.