Unions accused of misleading public on Dart roster changes

Iarnród Éireann has accused the National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU) and Siptu of “misleading the public and their own members” in refusing to engage with the company on roster changes for Dart services.

The unions have rejected proposals to facilitate the introduction of Dart services at a 10-minute frequency which Iarnród Éireann wants to roll out in January. The company has been warned the row could lead to further industrial unrest.

Iarnród Éireann said the roster changes did not involve increased productivity and were designed to deliver an improved Dart service in the new year.

A spokesperson for the company said it was attempting to improve Dart services in response to increased demand from the public.

He said the new rosters could be “delivered within all existing rostering parameters, as we have trained up new drivers to facilitate this “.

“It is not a productivity issue at all,” he said. “We had commenced our normal process of circulating rosters to local driver representatives for review and clarification, within timescales detailed in our agreements.”

The spokesman said senior trade union officials “had ordered local Dart driver representatives not to even look at the new rosters, showing a pre-emptive wish in the union leadership to cause unnecessary conflict”.

The NBRU and Siptu are currently engaged in a process for dealing with a claim for payment for past productivity measures. The unions staged a three hour strike in October and a second wave of industrial action was deferred in November at the last minute.

Responding to the company, NBRU general secretary Dermot O’Leary said Iarnród Éireann was attempting to avoid the fundamental issues and that the facts were “very clear”.

He said the company had advanced the 10 minute service frequency as a productivity issue during recent talks at the Workplace Relations Commission and also included it in a submission to the Labour Court in November.

“There are no new drivers in training for enhanced services, drivers previously trained were for existing vacancies, our members frankly find it insulting that by blaming the union leadership the Company is ignoring their democratic acceptance of the Labour Court Recommendation which says that all issues associated with productivity should be discussed by the parties in the process recommended by the court..,” Mr O’Leary said.

He said giving the travelling public the impression that “it’s all systems go” for the more regular service without the necessary agreement of drivers was “doing a disservice to commuters, staff and the taxpayer”.