Severe rail disruption set to continue

Severe disruption to the State's rail services looks set to continue this morning as the union representing striking drivers was no closer to agreement last night on negotiating rights with other unions or Iarnrod Eireann. A series of three-day strikes by train drivers which began on the east coast yesterday severely curtailed inter-city and Dart services in the greater Dublin area, inconveniencing about 100,000 commuters.

This morning the focus of the dispute is to switch to Munster and Iarnrod Eireann is advising intending passengers to make alternative arrangements.

The striking drivers, about 100 members of the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union (ATGWU), were previously members of the Irish Locomotive Drivers' Association, which went on strike for 10 weeks last year before losing its legal battle for negotiating rights with Iarnrod Eireann.

Iarnrod Eireann has said it will not negotiate with the ATGWU, which is seeking to represent seven drivers in disciplinary procedures at the company. The company said it was relying on an existing agreement with the drivers which gives negotiating rights to SIPTU and the National Bus and Railway workers' Union. It has described the prospect of negotiating with a third drivers' union as "descending into industrial relations meltdown".

However, after yesterday's disruption the ATGWU predicted the company would "eventually sit down and talk, as sure as it is going to rain". According to the union, it was a matter of whether the company entered talks at the beginning of the industrial action or allowed it to drag on.

The ATGWU says it represents 46 per cent of drivers and the company has no right to impose restrictions on which union may represent workers.

The curtailment of services yesterday was considerably aided by drivers who are members of SIPTU refusing to pass the ATGWU pickets. However, Mr Noel Dowling of SIPTU said this should not be taken as support for the strike but was the "natural reluctance" of a trade union member to pass a picket.

Hope that the strike would be short-lived was dashed at lunch-time yesterday when suggestions that the ATGWU would accept the mediation of the Irish Congress of Trades Union appeared to be rejected.

Mr Dowling told RTE's lunch-time news that the ATGWU appeared to be willing to use Congress's disputes procedure to resolve the representation of workers. A meeting had been organised for tomorrow, he indicated, and he called on the drivers to end the strike immediately.

But yesterday afternoon the ATGWU rejected hopes that the meeting could resolve the dispute, and spokesman Mr Marty Whelan told The Irish Times that the ATGWU would discuss the dispute with Congress "until the cows came home" but that it would not be solved until the company negotiated directly with the union.

Minister for Enterprise Ms O'Rourke said yesterday there was nothing she or the Government could do to end the dispute. Ms O'Rourke described the industrial action as an inter-union dispute.