Iarnrod Eireann is an old company with traditional practices and breaking that mould is difficult. If the company and its unions do not do so quickly, they will soon be out of business.
In industrial relations terms the signallers' dispute should be "easy cakes", to quote a current radio ad. It is about changing a pay scheme that forces workers on low pay - £235 a week at the top of the scale - to work up to 80 hours to earn a decent wage.
Because of the 48-hour cap on the working week imposed by EU law and the company's desire to modernise, it is proposing a new pay scale. But the unions argue that their members would be at a loss because of overtime forgone.
In protracted negotiations the company made a final offer to boost basic pay for grade one signallers to £25,000. The unions are still holding out for £27,800. Grade two signallers were offered £22,600 but the unions want £26,410. Grade three signallers were offered £20,900 but the unions want £25,089.
In a "final, final offer" on Tuesday the company offered to add £1,000 to each point on the scale with another £500 next September. The unions refused to reduce the size of their claim but said it could be phased in. The Labour Court must find a middle way.
In the background are claims by about 4,000 more Iarnrod Eireann employees in 130 grades. They will be watching the outcome of the dispute as closely as they did the permanent way operatives, mainline drivers, and DART drivers who vote on a new offer today. While the signs are hopeful, no one is predicting the result.
There is still unfinished business with mainline drivers. The Supreme Court has still to give its judgment on the Irish Locomotive Drivers' Association claim for union recognition and disciplinary cases against 50 ILDA members are still wending their way through the company, the Labour Relations Commission and the Labour Court.
One major problem is that under the new industrial relations dispensation at Iarnrod Eireann, each negotiating unit is supposed to generate extra productivity and flexibility, thus meriting increases in pay. In that way the company can afford the increases without passing the bill on to the taxpayer.
The problem highlighted by the signallers' dispute is that all these concessions may not be enough to guarantee that workers switching from a working week of up to 80 hours can actually earn as much in the new system for working 48 hours.
Also, the new shift system will mean recruiting new signallers. The NBRU leader, Mr Liam Tobin, says the cost of doing so should not be borne by existing signallers accepting wage cuts.
Iarnrod Eireann's human resources manager, Mr John Keenan, argues that the cost of meeting the sigallers' claim will be at least £6 million, when the relativity implications are spread across other workers in the InterCity division.
It may be that the unions will have to take a more serious look at dropping relativities if they seriously want to address problems of low pay for groups such as signallers.
Similarly, the Government may have to give Mr Keenan and his fellow negotiators more leeway in reaching agreement with the unions, by increasing the State subvention.