DART drivers and signallers will decide today whether to call off further strike action.
Signallers are threatening a three-day strike from tomorrow if a Labour Court recommendation due out today is not to their liking. This could lead to serious disruption of mainline services.
Meanwhile, level-crossing keepers have served three weeks' strike notice on Iarnrod Eireann over a series of grievances over pay, working and living conditions.
A ballot of DART drivers on a new Labour Court recommendation that provides basic pay of £29,500 takes place today. This is the amount mainline rail drivers accepted earlier this year. The result is expected by about 5 p.m. It is thought drivers will accept. If not, a protracted strike seems inevitable on the DART.
If the vote is in favour of the Labour Court award it will mean that newly trained drivers can be deployed on the DART service and a full service extended to Malahide and Greystones in the near future.
Deployment of six new fully trained drivers has been blocked for several weeks by the dispute. In recognition of this the Labour Court has recommended that the "Fairview Six", as they are known, because they are based in Fairview depot, be put at the top of the new B scale for freshly recruited DART drivers, which is £26,550. Existing drivers will be paid £29,500 for a 48-hour week under the main court recommendation. It provides for them to work a maximum of nine hours a day and not more than 41 hours a week.
Representatives of 300 level-crossing keepers issued three weeks' strike notice after talks broke down yesterday.