The National Locomotive Drivers Committee has given Iarnrod Eireann, the drivers' trade unions and the Labour Relations Commission until July 29th to produce a schedule for concluding restructuring negotiations. If this deadline is not met, the NLDC is expected to disrupt August public holiday traffic.
The drivers met in Dublin yesterday to review the situation since last Sunday's day of action, when over 300 drivers disrupted services by refusing to work their rest day. As a result the LRC suspended all talks in Iarnrod Eireann until further notice. The locomotive drivers had been scheduled to begin talks on August 17th, but the NLDC wanted them brought forward.
It now appears to have changed its position. Its chairman, Mr Brendan Ogle, said yesterday it would be satisfied if the talks began on August 17th, as originally planned, provided they were continued to a conclusion.
If talks resumed, he said the NLDC would not engage in any disruptive action. "In the unfortunate event of that not coming to pass, we have given a lot of consideration to what is likely to pass," he said. However, Mr Ogle refused to comment on reports that the drivers would take August 2nd and 3rd as rest days.
Events may be precipitated by Mr Ogle's own union, SIPTU, which has given him until Wednesday to resign as chairman of the NLDC, which is an unofficial body. If he does not, the union is likely to remove him from SIPTU's rail council and its negotiating team for train drivers.