Iarnrod Eireann has threatened legal action to recoup over £100,000 from the executive of the Irish Locomotive Drivers Association for the disruption caused to services in Athlone on Friday, July 9th.
The company has told ILDA activists that they must use the recognised trade unions in the company, SIPTU and the National Bus and Rail Union, to pursue any aspirations they have for the driver grade.
Because it is not a recognised trade union, the ILDA and its members are not protected by the 1990 Industrial Relations Act from legal action by the company, or by users of the railway services, for losses incurred because of industrial action. It claims 118 train drivers are members but the minimum membership required by a union for recognition and a negotiating licence is 1,000.
The company instructed its solicitors to seek "appropriate redress" from the ILDA executive members earlier this week. Its human resources manager, Mr John Keenan, confirmed yesterday that the company will go to the High Court if it does not receive an undertaking from the executive secretary of the ILDA, Mr Brendan Ogle, that he "ceases to threaten services" and "ceases to undermine industrial relations procedures".
Besides disrupting the Athlone services on July 9th, ILDA members in Cork decided to opt out of Sunday working on July 11th, causing further widespread disruption to rail services in the south-west.
When they threatened further disruption last Sunday, the NBRU and SIPTU advised train drivers to work normally.
Yesterday Mr Keenan said that the company had received a letter from solicitors acting for the ILDA stating that Mr Ogle would not disrupt train services, but that this was not sufficient. Iarnrod Eireann is statute-bound to work with authorised trade unions and to provide a service to the public.
Besides the threat of legal action, Iarnrod Eireann has initiated disciplinary proceedings against Mr Ogle and three drivers who refused to operate their trains on July 9th.
Mr Keenan said that Mr Ogle had sought to portray himself as a victim in the dispute, but "the real victims in all this are the travelling public, from pensioners to business executives. We can't have a situation where a group that is illegitimate, at their whim, can disrupt services and damage the interests, not just of the public, but the interests of other people who work for us, and work damn hard.
"SIPTU and the NBRU are not saints and no doubt some of our managers are not saints either," he said. "But if Mr Ogle and others wish to realise their aspirations they must work within the parameters set, like everybody else." The alternative was "anarchy."
Mr Keenan still hoped "sense will prevail and people will use the robust structures that are there to resolve their differences."
Neither Mr Ogle nor the president of the ILDA, Mr Christy Holbrook, was available for comment last night.