Speed camera firm reaches deal on pay and rosters with staff

Management at the company operating the State’s roadside speed camera system has said it has reached a proposed agreement with its internal staff representative body on pay and rosters .

However the trade union Siptu said that a planned 72-hour strike by speed camera van workers was still scheduled to go ahead this weekend.

The company operating the speed camera vans, GoSafe, said on Wednesday that the proposed new deal would cover the three-year period January 2020 to December 2022 and was subject to approval in separate ballots of the company’s 130 staff.

The company said that pay improvements under the proposed agreement included increases in base rate pay with additional increases in bank holiday rates, employer PRSA contributions and holiday terms.

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Go Safe said staff had already backed the agreement on rosters in a ballot while a vote on the pay proposals would conclude at the beginning of November.

The company also said it had improved arrangements for staff operating speed camera vans to take toilet breaks.

However Siptu said the proposed agreement between Go Safe and the internal representative association had nothing to do with the union.

Siptu said its planned work stoppage over working conditions and union recognition at the company would go ahead as scheduled this weekend.

Go Safe said: "As has always been the case, team members can take toilet breaks at any time and are free to temporarily suspend their monitoring activities to facilitate this. The company has further extended its existing network of service station relationships, meaning mobile team members can use toilet facilities at up to 650 service stations facilities nationwide. This is available alongside its continued agreement with An Garda Síochána whereby all GoSafe team members can use toilet facilities at any of its up to 564 Garda stations nationwide, as well as continued availability of toilet facilities at GoSafe's depots nationwide. Combined, this provides up to 1,229 toilet facility options for our mobile team at any time. "

The company’s statement made no reference to the union recognition issue or the forthcoming planned strike. Siptu said it represented about 50 per cent of speed camera operators at the company.

Last week Siptu announced that its members at GoSafe would take part in a 72-hour work stoppage from 9.00am on October 26th.

Staff represented by Siptu are already refusing to operate the vans’ Telogis computer system which tracks and monitors their activity. This data is submitted to gardaí and forms part of their contractual obligation for payment, a Siptu representative said.

The staff concerned staged a previous one-day strike last month.

Siptu organiser Brendan Carr said last week: "Our members are only taking this action as a last resort because of the intransigence of management which has refused to address their concerns relating to health and safety and their conditions of employment."

"These workers have attempted to address these problems through the State industrial relations mechanisms. The Labour Court has issued a recommendation saying that GoSafe should recognise Siptu as the representative of its employees who are union members, but this has been completely ignored by management."