Talks on cost-cutting plan at Iarnród Éireann get under way

Intensive talks between management at Iarnród Éireann and trade unions on controversial cost-reducing proposals have begun in Dublin.

The talks are expected to run until the weekend.

The State-owned train operator last week warned staff that it would unilaterally introduce a controversial cost-saving plan including pay cuts if there was no agreement on cost reductions as part of a one-week intensive round of talks.

Labour Court recommendations, which include pay cuts ranging from 1.7 per cent to 6.1 per cent to apply for a 28-month period, were rejected over recent weeks by members of the Siptu and the National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU).

Iarnród Éireann said last week that the proposed cuts would be applied immediately to the terms and conditions of members of the senior management team.

In an email to staff last week the chief executive of Iarnród Éireann David Franks said: "We have exhausted the avenues provided for under the industrial relations machinery of the State over the past 19 months, with extensive engagements under the auspices of the Labour Relations Commission and the Labour Court. This has included three separate proposals formally balloted upon by colleagues."

“There is nowhere else to turn. The responsibility for securing these savings now falls on ourselves: management and workforce collectively.”

NBRU general secretary Dermot O’Leary said it was regrettable that the company had decided to impose a precondition in advance of the talks by indicating that it would implement the cost retrenchment measures without agreement.

He said while his union had never refused to engage in any process which sought to progress issues, it did not believe the responsibility for securing the future of the train operator rested exclusively with staff.

Siptu members voted for industrial action, but not strikes, in the event of the company unilaterally imposing cost-reduction measures.