Hundreds of thousands of public transport users have been spared a withdrawal of services today following SIPTU's decision to call off its threatened strike.
The decision, announced last night, was described as "treachery" by the CIÉ strike committee, which said it could not guarantee the provision of a full schedule of services. However, senior officials in the union insisted there would be no unofficial action and all Iarnród Éireann, Bus Éireann and Dublin Bus services would run as normal. Iarnród Éireann last night said all of its services would operate normally.
A threat of unofficial action at Dublin, Shannon and Cork airports was also removed and no disruption to flight schedules is now expected. A planned six-hour strike at the airports had been called off by SIPTU on Tuesday.
The decision to cancel both actions was imposed on the union's CIÉ and Aer Rianta strike committees by its general officers, including the president, Mr Jack O'Connor.
The two committees have reacted angrily to the decision and an acrimonious split has developed between the union's leadership and its activists in both companies.
Both committees rejected the leadership's view that a letter from the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, to Mr O'Connor this week contained significant commitments.
Mr Ahern promised in the letter to engage with unions in ensuring that a "race to the bottom" in terms of employment standards did not result from transport reforms.
Announcing the decision to call off the bus and rail strike, Mr O'Connor said it was the first time the Government had specifically undertaken to address these concerns. He was speaking following a 13-hour meeting, over two days, of the union's CIÉ strike committee about whether or not to go ahead with the stoppage.
Sources suggested that having taken such a tough stance to face down militant members of the union and keep transport services operating, Mr O'Connor would expect the Government to deliver fully on its commitments.
The Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, said the decision was a welcome relief, but it was regrettable it had not been reached earlier. From Washington the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, also welcomed the decision, and said he looked forward to working with Mr Brennan and the unions to resolve the issues, a Government spokeswoman said.
Mr Bill McCamley, the chairman of the union's Dublin Bus branch, said the committee was unanimously against calling off the strike. The committee believed Mr Ahern's letter was "not a meaningful intervention", but "regrettably" the leadership had taken a different view.
Asked if there could be unofficial action by bus and rail workers today, Mr McCamley said he did not know. Union leaders should "go around the garages in the morning" to find out.
The president of SIPTU's aviation branch, Mr Barry Nevin, also sharply criticised the union's leadership, but said there would be no unofficial action at airports today. He claimed that as a result of the leadership's actions, the union's campaign on the future of Aer Rianta was "finished".
Talks between unions and the Department of Transport on the future of CIÉ are now expected to resume tomorrow.