[article] Bus and rail strike to hit St Patrick's celebrations

Scruff

from todays indo

A 24-HOUR national bus and rail strike is set to throw St Patrick's Day celebrations into chaos next week.

SIPTU has decided on a 'go-it-alone' one-day action in its mounting row with Transport Minister Seamus Brennan over his privatisation plans.

The strike, beginning at midnight on March 17, will hit travellers all over the country at one of the busiest times of the year as up to 20,000 people arrive for the St Patrick's Festival celebrations.

The decision to cripple the country next week is an angry response to talks on the future of State-owned companies including Dublin Bus, Bus Eireann and Iarnrod Eireann.

In a further twist, SIPTU members in Aer Rianta will meet today and are also expected to call for industrial action next Thursday at the country's airports.

Yesterday, the union also served strike notice on Aer Lingus, due to start on March 23, but it will probably be confined to Shannon.

SIPTU's industrial supremo Michael Halpenny confirmed the union's leaders had ordered a complete shutdown for 24 hours starting after the St Patrick's Day celebrations next Wednesday night.

A Department of Transport spokeswoman said that since independent talks chairman Kevin Foley was appointed last month "seven meetings have been held with one scheduled also for March 18. This action has no basis or justification".

Since the talks on Aer Rianta and CIE were agreed, Mr Brennan has not attended any of the negotiations - apart from one preliminary discussion - to clarify his 'jobs for life' promises which helped stave off the last round of strike threats six weeks ago.

"This action is in protest at the lack of meaningful progress made between the minister and the unions in current talks on the future of public transport and security of employment for transport workers," Mr Halpenny said.

For the past year SIPTU has repeatedly threatened industrial action but has always pulled back, apart from not collecting fares one day last July and having a four-hour protest, with the National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU), last month.

The latest strike threat is set to target a special OECD education ministers meeting and a gathering of EU-accredited diplomats scheduled for Dublin next week.

The NBRU, which has reported progress in its talks with the Department of Transport, has not yet decided whether to back next Thursday's strike.

Mr Halpenny said SIPTU's strike committee believed the talks also lacked credibility because of the minister's statement to the Fianna Fail Ard Fheis at the weekend in which he stated he was still wedded to his original view that franchising was the way to open up the bus market to competition.

Mr Brennan has pledged to have 50 bus routes in Dublin and up to 200 vehicles, affecting 600 drivers' jobs, in private hands later this year.

Gerald Flynn
Industrial Correspondent

Horray for those union ****. Its for actions like this that i really hate unions. Yeah they've got a right to strike but this is a bit ott. I firmly beleive that unions, particularly in cie and irish rail, are responsible in a large part for the huge loss the companies run at and the massive Inefficiencies. While i dont necessarily agree 100% with privitisation of the public transport system, allowing competition from private operators can't be a bad thing. And whats with this whole "jobs for life"???? ffs, these people really dont live in the real world...

ixoy

Originally posted by Scruff
Horray for those union ****. Its for actions like this that i really hate unions. Yeah they've got a right to strike but this is a bit ott. I firmly beleive that unions, particularly in cie and irish rail, are responsible in a large part for the huge loss the companies run at and the massive Inefficiencies. And whats with this whole "jobs for life"???? ffs, these people really dont live in the real world...

Hey I'm in a job with no union where we've had a pay freeze and 25% job cuts in the past few years. The notion that they think they have a right to "jobs for life" fills me with rage. I'm subsequently driven into a blood frenzy when their actions precipitate great great inconvenience for myself and tens of thousands of others.

Unions were developed to protect workers when their rights were being exploited. This is no longer the case. In the marketing enviornment that we work in, we need to expect some hardships and - more importantly - a competitive system. We can't just cross our arms, pound our feet, and scream like an ill tempered child, refusing to budge until we get our way. Goodness knows that if a mainstream business behaved like this, their competitors would laugh at them as they mercilessly slaughtered them.

In the case of CIE, they've shown consistent and utter contempt for their customers. No doubt this strike of theirs would have happened sooner but the Eden Quay crash forced them to postpone for a suitable period of "mourning" (and legal advice). Their service - in particular Irish Rail - is primitive and inexcusably shoddy. Whilst Mr. Brennan is certainly not blameless, CIE's response in their little feud, will win them no favours from any quarters and just earn the further contempt of the travelling public.

Stark

Great. So much for me heading home for St. Patrick's Day

Victor

http://www.irishrail.ie/news_centre/travel_alerts.asp?action=view&news_id=80

Threatened Unofficial Action, Thursday 18 March 2004 by Media & P.R.

Threatened Unofficial Action, Thursday 18 March 2004

Iarnród Éireann has advised customers that it cannot guarantee any services across InterCity, DART and Commuter on Thursday 18 March, due to threatened unofficial action by SIPTU, and possibly other unions.

The company urges SIPTU and other unions not to engage in this unofficial action, which will needlessly disrupt our customers and damage the company.

Full information on service impact will be updated as the situation becomes clearer over the coming days.