The travelling public is being treated shamefully by those train drivers who are engaging in unofficial industrial action in pursuit of demands already rejected by the Labour Court. Such wildcat behaviour has no place in a properly regulated industrial relations system. Rail customers deserve better. Taxpayers who are required to fund the development of a public transport system are seriously concerned. And locomotive drivers, who have practically no public support, should be rescued by their trade unions before further damage is caused.
Already, an estimated 70,000 rail passengers have had their travelling plans damaged by the dispute, which has severely disrupted train services between Dublin, the south and the west. Iarnród Éireann may have lost €1million in ticket sales. And for what? Because drivers refused to take out new trains and refused to accept the findings of the Labour Court. For once, in a company that has been ravaged by poor industrial relations, Iarnród Éireann management is in the clear.
This dispute has been rumbling for some time. Last year, drivers sought a reduction in working hours from 42.5 to 35 hours a week, plus a 5 per cent pay increase, in return for driving new trains and the introduction of new safety and training methods. When the matter was not resolved within the Labour Relations Commission, it was referred to the Labour Court. Last January, the court ruled any pay increases would breach the terms of "Sustaining Progress". It also found the men had already been compensated for driving the new trains under an agreement reached in 2000.
In spite of that, management was prepared to discuss working hours and pension entitlements for drivers because of their "unique circumstances", in the context of greater productivity and the introduction of new safety standards and training. Those talks were to have begun yesterday. But it clearly wasn't sufficient to mollify militant locomotive drivers. Two men, who refused to take out a new train in Cork on Monday morning, had not even been suspended when their colleagues across the country embarked on unofficial action. There was clearly an element of preparation involved. And the suggestion the dispute was forced on them by management is fatuous.
This wildcat action is seriously damaging to the reputation and authority of the trade union movement. Three years ago, trade unions campaigned vigorously - and successfully - against efforts by the Government to inject greater competition into the public transport system. A "no fares" day cost CIÉ about €1.2 million. Since then, there has been considerable investment in trains and buses and services have improved. This dispute will, however, increase pressure for change because of reckless disregard for the public interest and the totally disproportionate response by drivers to the introduction of new technology. In their own best interests, drivers should immediately return to work.