Iarnrod Eireann has deferred a contentious training programme for new DART drivers after being served with strike notice.
Yesterday 49 of the 53 DART drivers voted for strike action and a week's strike notice was served on Iarnrod Eireann by their unions, the NBRU and SIPTU. Until last January, train drivers based at the two Connolly Station depots had the exclusive right to progress from diesel trains to the DART service. The company bought this entitlement out when 38 drivers accepted payments of £11,000 each.
Last week when the company announced it had recruited eight new drivers from other grades, the unions objected. They claimed the terms for recruiting DART drivers required further clarification, and the company had breached procedures by not referring the matter to the Labour Court before recruiting staff.
The human resource manager of Iarnrod Eireann, Mr John Keenan, said yesterday the agreement was clear. He said he was quite happy to go back to the Labour Court, but he was "not going to be held to ransom. I went to the trouble of getting an agreement and paying quite a lot of money for it."