ILDA rejects Labour Court recommendations

Hopes for an end to the disruption of rail services caused by the Irish Locomotive Drivers' Association (ILDA) dispute evaporated yesterday when the association formally rejected the terms of the joint Labour Court/Labour Relations Commission initiative.

At its meeting in Dublin the ILDA also rejected the terms of the current agreement between Iarnrod Eireann and the SIPTU and NBRU trade unions.

It approved instead a motion which called for its own concerns regarding safety to be addressed before any return to work.

The motion said the ILDA welcomed the initiative of the Labour Court/LRC but could not return to work until its concerns on safety issues had been addressed.

Mr Brendan Ogle, the ILDA secretary, said the motion formed a significant departure from the association's original position, in that it submitted many of its concerns on pay and conditions to be determined by the joint investigation promised by the Labour Court/LRC into the causes of the dispute.

The motion also stressed that the members were anxious to return to work on the basis of an agreement "which is safe for passengers and staff".

However, in a passage similar to the position paper which it submitted to all parties to the dispute last weekend, it outlined 10 conditions which it said must be addressed before the members could return to work.

These included:

A commitment to dropping the company's provision for part-time drivers;

A return to the previous 72-week training period for drivers until the inquiry into the Paddington rail crash is complete; * The introduction of a standard maximum continuous driving time of three hours, to be followed by a break of at least 20 minutes;

A maximum normal working day of nine hours;

96 rest days to be guaranteed to ILDA members as of right;

The establishment of an independently chaired safety review committee, containing driver and company nominees;

The maintenance of "visible" Sunday and public holiday premium payments, which the ILDA says are a statutory right under the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997;

A guarantee that existing conditions of employment not specifically dealt with in the agreement will remain in force;

Local agreement on the amalgamation of local routes;

Agreement that "contingency hours", a process by which workers who work less than their required hours can "owe" hours to Iarnrod Eireann, cannot be accumulated by the company for longer than one week.

Explaining why this was a major departure from its original position, Mr Ogle said that once these matters had been addressed to the association's satisfaction, the members would agree to work under protest until other issues were addressed.

The motion passed by the members also called on Iarnrod Eireann to refrain from personal attacks on ILDA members and acknowledged the support of members in abstaining from any escalation of the dispute which would be detrimental to the interests of the travelling public.

"We do this in interests of promoting a positive climate for the resolution of this dispute," the motion concluded.

Asked if the provisions of this latest initiative by the association did not overturn the existing agreement between SIPTU, the NBRU and Iarnrod Eireann, Mr Ogle replied: "No. It makes it better.

"I would ask SIPTU or the NBRU to show me any of those conditions which makes things worse for the driver."