Iarnrod Eireann admitted yesterday that the refusal by members of the Irish Locomotive Drivers' Association to work the new rosters was biting. They could hardly do otherwise with thousands of passengers stranded, particularly on the Munster routes.
Ironically, this is partly due to the recent defections of drivers in Cork to the ILDA. It already had a majority of drivers at the Inchicore depot which services the Dublin end of the Munster connection.
Just over a third of mainline trains servicing Dublin, Cork and Limerick ran yesterday. Elsewhere the situation was less drastic.
Most trains ran between Dublin and Athlone. Buses were used to supplement train services in carrying passengers on to Galway and Westport. The Dublin, Sligo, Rosslare and Belfast routes operated normally, as did the DART and Dublin-Maynooth line.
The Dublin-Kildare Arrow and Dublin-Drogheda suburban services suffered significant disruption with peak-hour cancellations aggravating the situation.
It will be some days before the determination of the two sides is clear. The company admits that ILDA solidarity was much stronger than expected with only a couple of association drivers offering to work the new rosters. On the other hand, it says, more drivers than usual reported sick.
The company has adopted a softly, softly approach so far. When the executive secretary of the ILDA, Mr Brendan Ogle, complained on RTE that nine ILDA drivers had been locked out, the company's human resources manager, Mr John Keenan, was quick to respond: "There was no lockout. Under the new rosters, work is available." He said drivers refusing to operate the new roster had not even been asked to leave the premises.
"It's been softly, softly and we will continue to be non-confrontational with the people concerned to give them as much space as possible," he said.
However, the company's decision to bus passengers westwards from Athlone shows it has been preparing for the long haul. It has also received co-operation from some SIPTU and National Bus and Railworkers' Union members in operating trains usually driven by ILDA members, underlining the bitterness that now exists between some drivers.
Mr Ogle refused to comment on the situation to The Irish Times yesterday because he felt coverage of the dispute had been unfair. "Instead of harassing us, the media should be out harassing the Minister and the Tanaiste and asking them what they are doing to resolve this dispute."
He reiterated the ILDA claim that a new statutory instrument signed by the Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ms Harney, last month be used to arrange third-party intervention. SI 146/2000 is designed to allow the Labour Relations Commission to intervene in certain situations where unions have difficulty obtaining recognition.
However, the LRC does not appear inclined to use it in the od Eireann present situation where there are more than a dozen unions representing 34 negotiating units. The drivers already have two recognised unions representing them, SIPTU and the NBRU, which negotiated the "new deal for locomotive drivers" over the past three years.
Drivers' unions seem to have a tendency to fragment. The NBRU membership grew out of disaffected drivers in SIPTU. ILDA has now sprung up on the basis of disillusion in both the other unions over the "new deal". Even accepting the ILDA figure of 130 members, this still constitutes only 2.5 per cent of Iarnrod Eireann employees.
For many ILDA drivers the prospect of compulsory Sunday work for flat-rate pay seems to be the sticking point. The company and the unions which negotiated the deal say the new five-day week will guarantee drivers 96 rest days a year, which will include Sundays. ILDA's response is that drivers should have the right to say no to Sunday work and be paid extra when they do it.
They may well pursue the issue in the courts as they have already pursued union recognition. Their Supreme Court appeal against the High Court decision that they were not entitled to negotiate for drivers is expected to be heard shortly.
By the time judgment is delivered the matter may well be decided for all practical purposes. The ILDA is hoping to win public opinion and force the company - and the Government - to accept third-party intervention. The company and the two existing drivers' unions are hoping the ILDA members will see the error of their ways and accept an agreement that would almost double their basic pay and drastically reduce their working week.
In most disputes a fudge is possible. On this occasion it looks like one side or the other must capitulate. That will not make a final settlement any easier.