SIPTU to ballot on rail action

SIPTU members at Iarnrod Eireann will be balloted from October 18th on possible industrial action. The vote will continue until November 1st and takes place in the context of the company's recently announced viability plan. It follows a meeting of the union's national rail council at the weekend.

The council's secretary, Mr Tony Tobin, said last night the ballot was being organised in the event of the company not negotiating proposed changes or the implementation of changes without agreement. The type of industrial action, if approved, will be decided later, but could range from "one day stoppages to an all out dispute".

Mr Tobin said the Government's decision that savings of £30 million must be made at the company from next year, with a loss of 800 jobs, "will have very serious ramifications" for employees.

"We are not afraid of change," he said. "We have had a lot of change this last few years but we have very little to give." He said productivity deals, which had been completed in literally every section" of the company, were now "not worth a penny candle". He was not reassured by the promises from the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications, Mr Lowry, that basic wages at the company would not be interfered with. Mr Tobin said employees just couldn't survive if they were dependant on the basic wage alone.

He said SIPTU was also requesting the company to lift its December 20th deadline for winding up its Railink subsidiary, which delivers parcels. Eighty members would be affected by the decision, which was announced without consultation with the union. It is understood the people affected may be redeployed or offered severance. He said severance at the company was low and that redeployment to depot duties would not suit some of the employees at Railink.

The Fianria Fail spokesman on Transport, Energy and Communications, Mr Seamus Brennan, has called for "immediate Government intervention to head off" what he described as "an imminent strike threat in the transport sector".