Commuters face another day of disrupted travel on Monday, January 27th, as bus and rail workers prepare for a second day of protest over the planned break-up of the CIÉ group, reports Alison Healy.
The National Bus and Rail-workers' Union and SIPTU are protesting over what they see as the the Minister for Transport's failure to consult them about plans to dismantle the group and privatise some services.
In a joint statement yesterday, the NRBU and SIPTU said they had no choice but to continue the campaign "in defence of jobs, working conditions and a decent, socially responsive transport service for all".
Minister opens €40m mail centre
An Post's new €40 million automated mail processing centre was opened in Athlone yesterday by the Minister for Communications, Mr Ahern.
The Athlone centre is part of a €100 million project to introduce automated mail processing. Teething problems with the new automated system in Dublin were partly blamed for the delay in delivering Christmas cards in the capital city last year.
The Athlone centre employs 130 staff and will soon be handling 350,000 letters a day.
Nurses withdraw strike threat
The Irish Nurses Organisation has withdrawn its threat of industrial action over accident and emergency services after a hearing at the Labour Relations Court yesterday.
An audit for the period from December 28th to January 19th will take place to determine what led to the recent crisis in A&E wards.
INO deputy general secretary Mr Dave Hughes said nurses had sought this review because they believed that management had failed to deal with the admission and discharge of patients.