There were sharp exchanges yesterday between Iarnrod Eireann and the head of the ATGWU at the start today of a new phase of industrial action by train drivers.
The dispute, affecting thousands of east-coast commuters, was scheduled to get under way at 1 a.m. today, as pickets were due to be placed by the ATGWU at Dundalk, Drogheda and two Dublin depots, Connolly and Fairview.
The union decided to go ahead with the dispute on behalf of more than 100 members of its recently amalgamated branch, the Irish Locomotive Drivers' Association (ILDA).
Services in Munster and the west will be hit tomorrow when pickets are placed at Cork, Mallow, Waterford, Inchicore depot, and Limerick, Athlone and Portlaoise stations.
In a statement yesterday, Iarnrod Eireann said the new phase of industrial action had the potential to cause widespread disruption to passenger and freight services.
"This disruption will take place due to what is essentially an inter-union dispute. Brendan Ogle's ILDA group is continuing its push for recognition under the ATGWU as a standard of convenience against existing agreements within Iarnrod Eireann which provide for SIPTU or NBRU to represent locomotive drivers.
"The efforts by the ATGWU to extend its representation to locomotive drivers is currently the subject of procedures within ICTU.
"This is also taking place in the context of the Labour Court/ LRC's report into last summer's 10-week unofficial action by ILDA, which found that the emergence of a third negotiating unit amongst the locomotive driver grade in Iarnrod Eireann, in addition to SIPTU and NBRU, would destabilise an already fragile industrial relations environment across the organisation." The ATGWU's Irish secretary, Mr Mick O'Reilly, insisted that an agreement had been made with the company allowing for the union to represent its members with individual grievances.
"This is applicable to every worker in the company, not an NBRU or SIPTU thing. We are signatories to the agreement. The rights of our members have been completely taken away from us. Seven people have been disciplined by the company and we have not been afforded the right to represent them."
He added that a Labour Court recommendation had strenuously warned everybody, including the company, to avoid any process whereby some people were treated less favourably than others.
He said that the ICTU, which appealed to the ATGWU to call off the dispute pending a hearing for union recognition on Thursday, could not resolve the issue relating to the seven people. "Only the company can resolve that by talking to us. We are quite prepared to engage in discussions with the ICTU. If we could resolve the issues affecting our seven members, we could resolve the other parts of the dispute separately.
"We cannot have a situation whereby people are dealt with by the company and denied the right to have me sit down and try to defend their cases. That is not fair. I do not see any difficulties with the other unions if the company sat down with us on this issue."
