Rail strike disrupting travel for 160,000 passengers

No train services around the country are operating today as a result ofindustrial action by staff at Iarnród Éireann over temporary pay cuts.

The move is set to affect arund 60,000 passengers today, particularly those atttending the All-Ireland senior football semi final between Mayo and Kerry in Croke Park this afternoon.

The cross-border Enterprise service is operating only between Belfast and Newry.

Train services are also expected to cancelled around the country tomorrow as part of the dispute. This strike will affect around 100,000 people who normally travel onthe railways on a Monday.

Members of the National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU) and Siptu are also planning to stage further work stoppages on three days next month.

The State-owned train operator has introduced unilateral pay cuts for staff raning from 1.7 per cent to 6 per cent from today. It said it had no choice but to put in place payroll savings as a result of its precarious financial position. The company has accumulated losses of €147 million over the last six years.

Iarnród Éireann has been hit by falling State subvention, a reduced number of passengers and rising fuel costs over recent years.

On Friday the company said it would run out of money by the middle of next year without the implementation of cost-saving initiatives.

The company and unions have been engaged in talks forthe last 20 months on the cost saving plan.

The measures have been accepted by a number of unions at the company but have been rejected by the two largest, Siptu and the NBRU.

Minster for Transport Paschal Donohoe said he would not be intervening personally in the dispute.

The Minister said the State had industrial relations machinery - such as the Labour Relations Commission - for dealing with such disputes and any intervention by him would undermine their role.

These agencies were monitoring the situation and would “engage at the appropriate time”, he said.

The Minister said a decision by the unions to proceed with the strike would make the situation worse at the State-owned train operator.

The NBRU has blamed the Government and the company for the strike.

The union’s general secretary Dermot O’Leary said it was “ regrettable” that the impact of the company’s decision to cut its members’ wages would be widely felt by those who use the train as a mode of transport.

“In making their decision, the company - supported it would appear by the Minister have chosen to ignore the concerns of staff in relation to the future of the railway.”

“Funding for public transport is a responsibility of government, not staff,” he said.

“The Minister - who is after all the shareholder - needs to involve himself in addressing the underlying issues at play here.

“It is clear that you cannot strip out funding from a public service and expect that it would continue to operate at anything approaching the levels which currently obtain.”

Mr O’Leary said staff did not have “trust or confidence in either the company or the Government with regard to the future sustainability of rail in this country”.

“Asking them to plug a funding gap is not a sustainable platform from which to provide a public transport system.”

Iarnród Éireann said the strike would damage the interest of customers, the company and employees.

It said the Labour Court had described the measures being implemented as “unavoidable if the future of the company and the employment that it maintains is to be protected”.

The company also said that trade unions and their independent advisors had been given full access to its financial data, and accepted that it faced insolvency without urgent action to correct our finances.

This will involve contributions from many areas including further non-payroll savings, continued revenue growth and ensuring that we are sustainably funded for the services we provide. However, as payroll represents over 60 per cent of our costs, we cannot correct our finances without contribution from this area also. We have worked to minimise the impact, both in percentage and timescale, in order to protect the company and protect employment.”

“After 20 months of negotiations, as our finances have worsened, we now have no option but to implement these measures. The industrial action will hurt us all and hurt our customers, and create a wider financial gap which will then have to be addressed.

“The measures have already been introduced for the senior management team, who have reduced their pay by 6.1 per cent, and board members have implemented a reduction in directors fees.”