The Labour Relations Commission is expected to intervene in the DART dispute in an effort to avert Monday's strike, which could leave up to 50,000 Dublin commuters stranded.
This follows the breakdown of talks at Iarnrod Eireann yesterday afternoon. The talks, which were held at the invitation of the company, lasted only 45 minutes.
The DART drivers' unions, SIPTU and the National Bus and Railworkers' Union, told the company they believed their members would accept the ex gratia Labour Court award of £8,000 for allowing new drivers to be trained. However the payment would have to be tax free. Alternatively, they would require £11,000, of which a significant but unspecified amount would have to be tax free.
Given that the Labour Court has already adjudicated on the issues and found against the unions, it is hard to see what scope is left for the LRC's chief executive, Mr Kieran Mulvey, to intervene unless the unions raise some new issue not considered at the court hearing.
Nevertheless, the prospect of massive disruption to the capital on Monday will put immense pressure on all parties to reach a resolution.
After the talks ended yesterday, Iarnrod Eireann's human resource manager, Mr John Keenan, said that the company could not agree to tax-free payments. "We also said that we would be proceeding with the training programme needed to extend the DART service to Greystones on the basis of the agreement reached with both unions last January."
At that time the company bought out the right of 35 diesel engine drivers at Dublin's Connolly station to progress to the DART for £11,000 each. Mr Keenan said that the Labour Court had confirmed the company's view of that agreement.
He said that some progress had been made in the discussions of the last two days. Drivers' fears that the new rosters for trainees would adversely affect earnings had been dispelled. In fact, some drivers would earn slightly more.
The assistant general secretary of the NBRU, Mr Liam Tobin, said after the meeting that "the position now is that talks have broken down. The company said it was going ahead with the changes and, in view of that, our dispute will go ahead on Monday." Mr Tobin said the unions would be available for discussions over the weekend if a third party intervened. He said that the company had created the problem by using lump sums to buy out the right of Connolly drivers to move to the DART service. He called on Iarnrod Eireann to defer the training programme to allow further discussions.
It may well be that if Mr Mulvey calls the two sides into talks a deferral, or dilution, of the trainee driver programme may provide the breathing space needed to reach a settlement. Meanwhile the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, has been briefed on the situation. She is not expected to intervene.