National Toll Roads (NTR) says it will keep Dublin's East Link and West Link toll bridges open if tomorrow's strike by 100 SIPTU staff goes ahead. About 90,000 vehicles use the bridges each day, and their closure would cause traffic chaos.
The company is preparing to use management and other personnel to staff the toll booths. This follows a failure by negotiators to bridge the gap between the two sides yesterday afternoon. Although there were concessions by management, union representatives felt these were not sufficient to recommend acceptance to members.
A SIPTU negotiator, Ms Ethel Buckley, said afterwards that basic pay started at £5.87 per hour and rose to £6.36 over a 10-year incremental scale. These figures include the first phase of the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness (PPF). There are shift payments of 21 per cent for day workers and 33 per cent for night workers.
However, Ms Buckley said both groups must work a 12hour day, and the work was very stressful, especially during peak-hour traffic.
"The public are not happy at having to pay the tolls in the first place, and our members take the brunt of their frustration, not management," said Ms Buckley.
The chief executive of National Toll Roads, Mr Jim Barry, said the company was "very disappointed that SIPTU are insisting on proceeding with their strike action, although the company has tabled an offer which reduces their working week to 37.5 hours (from 41 hours) and increases their basic pay rate by 14 per cent over and above PPF".
On April 6th the Labour Court had rejected SIPTU's claims in relation to basic pay and working hours because they fell outside the scope of the PPF. Mr Barry added that, notwithstanding this, NTR had entered discussions with the union and offered terms well in excess of the PPF. It had also offered to enter a quick, binding and independent bench-marking process, which would compare NTR's terms of employment with any other equivalent employer in Dublin.
He said: "The toll booths will be staffed on Tuesday, and NTR intends to do all within its remit to minimise the impact of any potential strike on customers."