Little commuter sympathy for Luas drivers after pay deal rejected

There was little sympathy for Luas drivers ahead of their latest industrial action among passengers waiting for the light rail service in Dublin city centre on Thursday night.

“The pay claims are ridiculous. It’s impossible,” said Shane (35), at the St Stephen’s Green terminal on the Green Line.

“To be brutally honest I don’t [have any sympathy]. Driving a Luas and driving a train just isn’t equivalent. You have to be three years working on the railway before you can do a course to be a train driver.”

At the same stop, student Aaron McLoughlin (19) from Sunderland was equally unforgiving. “It’s a bit ridiculous doing a six week course [to earn thousands]. I’m in college. I will spend about five years there to earn in and around the same,” he said.

Where empathy exists, it falters when commuters are inconvenienced. Amy Murphy (24), said the claims are not “as drastic as people are making out” but when it made getting to college difficult, “I was giving out stink.”

Doctor

Ahmed Awadalla (36) said he knows accountants and a recently qualified doctor who earn less than Luas drivers.

"I am in work on Easter Monday so it's going to be a Sunday [BUS]timetable so I will have to think about how to get in," he said.

“There was a deal for them there and it’s all about compromise. There are skilled workers getting paid a lot less.”

At Abbey Street on the Red Line, the mood was much the same - sympathy diluted by the impracticalities of travel disruption.

"Normally pay increases are 1 and 2 per cent. They are looking for way too much," said Dave Horrigan, a daily commuter from Rialto.

“They are discommoding people coming into town. It’s to get the maximum effect picking the Easter bank holiday.”

Cinthia Zambrano said her daily trip to and from Saggart takes an hour and 20 minutes on the bus, almost twice as long as the Luas, but she welcomes the rights of workers to stand their ground.

“I think everybody needs to fight for their rights. It’s good that they can fight.”

Christina Shelly (23) studied human resources and industrial relations and travels regularly to Smithfield.

“They are asking for more than nurses and teachers are making and I think they are asking too much for their skill level.”