Luas drivers and their lunch

Teyla Emmagan

Surely if you are driving Luas all day you are going from A to B, once an hour or so. Could you not pop your lunch into the fridge the first time you reach B so it has a few hours to chill in advance of your having lunch at B?

There is a fridge in Bloombridge, your man on the radio confirmed it yesterday.

Kivaro

Jebus Christ. I fear for Irish society.
We have Irish solders complaining about sleeping "in the vicinity" of drug needles while protecting the Pope and they also complained about the sausages, eggs, and beans that they got for breakfast that morning.

Now, we have these lazy Luas flucks and their outcry because of warm sandwiches in coolers.
Some people use ice packs. And these very same people are not "thinking outside the box". It is just a sensible (logical) item to use if you believe that your food will go warm in a cooler.

You can get them for a euro or two. They are re-usable, and they keep your lunch cool for many hours.


But Jesus no, we can't expect Luas drivers to do something logical like that.
Their threat of industrial action over this "issue" is an excuse for more money, and it shows how greedy they are.
Caving into them on this will lead to more ludicrous requests down the road.

Eggs For Dinner

colm_mcm wrote: »

What percentage of workers bring sandwiches to work these days?

I’m going to assume it’s 100% of Luas drivers, but outside of that?

I do. Ham & Cheese. If I want to jazz things up, Cheese & Ham. Must have a bag of crisps too. Not lunch without that

colm_mcm

Here’s a mad idea....


Surely they could put mini fridges in the cabs. There are 73 trams, €200 a pop installed at the most.

€15k

If you do that though you’re pandering to more nonsense.

end of the road

Kivaro wrote: »

Jebus Christ. I fear for Irish society.
We have Irish solders complaining about sleeping "in the vicinity" of drug needles while protecting the Pope and they also complained about the sausages, eggs, and beans that they got for breakfast that morning.

Now, we have these lazy Luas flucks and their outcry because of warm sandwiches in coolers.
Some people use ice packs. And these very same people are not "thinking outside the box". It is just a sensible (logical) item to use if you believe that your food will go warm in a cooler.

You can get them for a euro or two. They are re-usable, and they keep your lunch cool for many hours.


But Jesus no, we can't expect Luas drivers to do something logical like that.
Their threat of industrial action over this "issue" is an excuse for more money, and it shows how greedy they are.
Caving into them on this will lead to more ludicrous requests down the road.

the soldiers were right to complain. they were not in a war zone so there was no excuse for that treatment. if they were in a war zone it would be a non-issue and they wouldn't have said a word, as that is what they are trained for.
the non-lazy non-greedy luas drivers want to insure their lunch is edible, so are talking with the company about making arrangements to make that happen.

Grandeeod

end of the road wrote: »

the soldiers were right to complain. they were not in a war zone so there was no excuse for that treatment. if they were in a war zone it would be a non-issue and they wouldn't have said a word, as that is what they are trained for.
the non-lazy non-greedy luas drivers want to insure their lunch is edible, so are talking with the company about making arrangements to make that happen.

A cooler bag WILL ensure that any kind of cold lunch is edible. Do you know what the lunch arrangements were before the extension to Broombridge?

kylith

end of the road wrote: »

the non-lazy non-greedy luas drivers want to insure their lunch is edible, so are talking with the company about making arrangements to make that happen.

Care to explain how a cool bag won’t do that?

end of the road

kylith wrote: »

Care to explain how a cool bag won’t do that?

because it's not a fridge which is constantly powered and which will insure the food is at a constant temperature and is constantly cool until required for eating.
in my experience of using a cool bag there is no guarantee that it will always stay cool for as long as maybe required.

Grandeeod

end of the road wrote: »

because it's not a fridge which is constantly powered and which will insure the food is at a constant temperature and is constantly cool until required for eating.
in my experience of using a cool bag there is no guarantee that it will always stay cool for as long as maybe required.

You're being particularly pedantic to suit your agenda and it is an agenda (not an opinion) once you support this absolutely stupid dispute. I work on the road quite a lot in a job that doesn't always allow me the luxury of a cafe, canteen etc. I use a cooler bag with an icepack and during the recent hot weather, it kept my lunch in a perfectly edible condition for 7 hours. Even my drinks were refreshingly cold coming out of the bag with temps of up to 30 degrees.

kylith

end of the road wrote: »

because it's not a fridge which is constantly powered and which will insure the food is at a constant temperature and is constantly cool until required for eating.
in my experience of using a cool bag there is no guarantee that it will always stay cool for as long as maybe required.

I have personally used cool bags with a frozen drink as an ice pack and I can personally attest that after 5 hours at 32c the drink was still no more than slushy. My food, which included fish, salad, and yoghurt, was nice and chilly.

This is the very definition of a mountain being made out of a molehill. People have been bringing packed lunches to work, from mine-shafts to hills of sheep, and to school since, literally, time immemorial. Some tram drivers having to remember to put an ice pack in with their sandwiches is a non-issue.

Trasna1

end of the road wrote: »

because it's not a fridge which is constantly powered and which will insure the food is at a constant temperature and is constantly cool until required for eating.
in my experience of using a cool bag there is no guarantee that it will always stay cool for as long as maybe required.

I'm pretty sure we send children to school and they keep lunches in their bags unrefrigerated for hours and they remain edible.

This is just Bolshie union bs as usual.

kylith

Trasna1 wrote: »

I'm pretty sure we send children to school and they keep lunches in their bags unrefrigerated for hours and they remain edible.

This is just Bolshie union bs as usual.

Now, now. Don't you know that Luas drivers are much more delicate than 6 year old children?

Odelay

Luas drivers/first world issues. Have they and SIPTU nothing better to do?

Trasna1

kylith wrote: »

Now, now. Don't you know that Luas drivers are much more delicate than 6 year old children?

There are a couple of hardcore union nutcases in that company orchastrating this with the sole intent of making the luas unrunnable from a private company perspective.

The goal here is that when this service contract is tendered again that no private company will be interested in running that joke shop and the service contract then will be folded into CIE.

Galwayguy35

I bring sandwiches to work in a ordinary lunch box and keep them in the work locker, I never heard such rubbish as this in all my life.

The company should tell the union to go fook themselves.

Ken.

Eggs For Dinner wrote: »

I do. Ham & Cheese. If I want to jazz things up, Cheese & Ham. Must have a bag of crisps too. Not lunch without that

An Englishman, a Scotsman and an Irishman are all working on a construction site, building a new skyscraper in London. It’s lunchtime and they’re all sat atop the building. Englishman opens up his lunchbox to see what his wife has packed him.

“Ugh… Ham and cheese sandwich… again. I’m fücking sick of ham and cheese sandwiches, it’s the same every bloody day. If I get another ham and cheese sandwich in my lunch box tomorrow I’m jumping off the top of this building.”

Next, the Scotsman opens up his lunch box. “Aackk, jam sandwich… again. I cannee go on like this eating jam sandwiches every day of me life! If I get the same again tomorrow I’m jumping as well.”

Next it’s the Irishman’s turn. “Ohh for fecks sake! Not another egg and cress sandwich! That’s the fourth one in a row this week! I’m with you boys, one more egg and cress sandwich and I’m jumping!”

So next day they sit at the top of the building to have lunch. One by one they open up their lunch boxes… Englishman finds another ham and cheese sandwich, so off he jumps, and splats into the ground below. Scotsman finds another jam sandwich… Off he goes…Splat. Irishman, egg and cress sandwich… Splat.

A week or so later later the three widows are talking at the memorial service. English widow says, through tears, “I still can’t believe it, had no idea George hated ham and cheese so much, if only i’d known…”

Scottish widow says “Duncan did say he was getting a bit bored of Jam, but I didn’t realise he hated it that much, I just wish he’d have let me know how he really felt.”

Irish widow says “I… I just don’t understand… Paddy packed his own lunch.”

end of the road

Trasna1 wrote: »

There are a couple of hardcore union nutcases in that company orchastrating this with the sole intent of making the luas unrunnable from a private company perspective.

The goal here is that when this service contract is tendered again that no private company will be interested in running that joke shop and the service contract then will be folded into CIE.

apparently they get a lot more now in terms of perks and pay then they would get if they were working for CIE. so it would not be within their interests to be folded into CIE if that is the case.
the private company gets a fixed fee from the government to operate the service, so i think there will be operators continuing to want to operate it as it's good money for them.

magentis

end of the road wrote: »

apparently they get a lot more now in terms of perks and pay then they would get if they were working for CIE. so it would not be within their interests to be folded into CIE if that is the case.
the private company gets a fixed fee from the government to operate the service, so i think there will be operators continuing to want to operate it as it's good money for them.

Spot on EOTR.I wouldn't have even bothered replying to the anti CIE and anti union broken record that's spouted here.God forbid people put their foot down and insist on decent working conditions.

robarmstrong

end of the road wrote: »

the soldiers were right to complain. they were not in a war zone so there was no excuse for that treatment.

My heart leapt as I thought you had finally saw sense and said something that people would universally, unanimously, wholeheartedly agree with.

end of the road wrote: »

the non-lazy non-greedy luas drivers want to insure their lunch is edible, so are talking with the company about making arrangements to make that happen.

.. but then out with this tripe. Non-lazy, non-greedy luas drivers? They're spoiled rotten, have a relatively (I'm trying to be nice here, a massive part of me wants to say they have an easy as f*ck job that a trained chimp could do and should count their lucky stars they are in full time permanent employment with a wide array of benefits lots of other jobs don't have) straight forward, low-skilled job that pays very, very well.

Turnipman

magentis wrote: »

Spot on EOTR.I wouldn't have even bothered replying to the anti CIE and anti union broken record that's spouted here.

It's a great pity that you did. I was having a reasonably enjoyable evening until I stumbled across your drivel.

Wheeliebin30

end of the road wrote: »

because it's not a fridge which is constantly powered and which will insure the food is at a constant temperature and is constantly cool until required for eating.
in my experience of using a cool bag there is no guarantee that it will always stay cool for as long as maybe required.

You are some wind up merchant.

Lads seriously is EOTR a board troll out here purposely to keep the post count up?????

This is getting beyond the realms of possibility.

The Rape of Lucretia

Wheeliebin30 wrote: »

You are some wind up merchant.

Lads seriously is EOTR a board troll out here purposely to keep the post count up?????

This is getting beyond the realms of possibility.

The return-per-post is terrific though.

Given that there is no longer any merit whatsoever in trades unions, and that unless dormant, they are a brake on the overall productivity and prosperity of the country for all, and that everyone is aware of this, a single pro-union post gets a response of about 10 from people sucked into to the trap that there really is some poor dark ages poster making a case for them.

So posts, clicks, views, and thread propagation rate is very high with minimal effort. Its efficient and impressive once you realise what is going on. And funny in its own way.

vectorvictor

The lack of logic in this is incredible, this is why people don't take unions seriously even when there is a proper grievance. TV3/VM1 struggled not to take the piss when reporting it.

Whatever happened to liking or lumping a job/employee. Oh that's right "entitlement and rights".

Get a primera and a taxi plate if driving a tram is too much inconvenience. Make sure it's fitted with a 2 ring hob, fridge and en suite though...

Pure Muppets.

Grandeeod

Wheeliebin30 wrote: »

You are some wind up merchant.

Lads seriously is EOTR a board troll out here purposely to keep the post count up?????

This is getting beyond the realms of possibility.

Didn't answer my my question earlier, yet responded. It appears he plays by the Boards rules so is immune.

jaxxx

Can I get some of this stuff that all of these public service transport employees have been on for the last few years, cos I'd like a complete escape from reality too! Entitled sh*theads. What's next, they're gonna demand golden cutlery as well tea/coffee freshly picked straight from Brazil??

vectorvictor

jaxxx wrote: »

Can I get some of this stuff that all of these public service transport employees have been on for the last few years, cos I'd like a complete escape from reality too! Entitled sh*theads. What's next, they're gonna demand golden cutlery as well tea/coffee freshly picked straight from Brazil??

Pretty much bang on. Just add in the lunchtime blowie due to the stress of the job and then you've nailed it.

Irish Kings

The amount of people that have fallen for this media smear story is worrying.

Working class heroes

Wheeliebin30 wrote: »

You are some wind up merchant.

Lads seriously is EOTR a board troll out here purposely to keep the post count up?????

This is getting beyond the realms of possibility.

This times a thousand. I called him out already and got carded.
Numerous Pm’s to mods just ignored. A Boards.ie wind up account for sure.

magentis

Turnipman wrote: »

It's a great pity that you did. I was having a reasonably enjoyable evening until I stumbled across your drivel.

Turnipman.

What an apt username.

andekwarhola

What I hate most about this - and other disputes - is that, in this age of zero hour contracts, migrant workers and other genuine exploitations, we actually need unions more than ever for vulnerable and low-paid workers but you have a situation where unions are essentially becoming a lobby group for well-paid workers (from relatively 'well-paid' workers like Luas and Bus drivers that get a pretty decent wage for the skill-level of the job that they perform to those in cushy state and semi-state indenture and right up to consultants in highly monopolized state services) and denigrating the historical role of unions.

Gimme A Pound

vectorvictor wrote: »

Whatever happened to liking or lumping a job/employee. Oh that's right "entitlement and rights".

Well I agree that this isn't an example of poor treatment, but if people are being poorly treated at work, I don't think it's unreasonable of them not to like or lump it.

jaxxx

andekwarhola wrote: »

What I hate most about this - and other disputes - is that, in this age of zero hour contracts. migrant workers and other genuine exploitation, we actually need unions more than ever for vulnerable and low-paid workers but you have a situation where unions are essentially becoming a lobby group for well-paid workers (from relatively 'well-paid' workers like Luas drivers that get a decent wage for the skill-level of the job that they perform to those in state and semi-state indenture and up to consultants in monopolized state services) and denigrating the historical role of unions.

Whatever the original intentions that unions had when they came into existence, and for all the actual good that they have done, they're now just the same as any politician. Only caring about getting funding, no longer caring about looking after the average Joe and Jane anymore. All these demands that Luas, Bus Eireann, etc have made over the years, they'd be lucky to get half of that working in the private sector and yet they continue to demand even more. Completely unreasonable. My father lost his job some years back as did many of his colleagues, and the unions didn't give a single goddamn sh@t about them! Unions these days are nothing more than a cancer.

vectorvictor

Antonella Powerful Talc wrote: »

Well I agree that this isn't an example of poor treatment, but if people are being poorly treated at work, I don't think it's unreasonable of them not to like or lump it.

Surely the labour market should dictate that though , not a pesky union run by people trying to boost their profile and see themselves on the big telly.

Conditions can only descend to a point before the employer will be unable to attract labour , therefore they should be able to level out naturally.

Poor treatment is not getting paid , working in unsafe conditions or being subject to verbal abuse etc... It is not poor treatment to be asked to carry your lunch with you AND even be given the bloody bag needed.

Same crap has gone on for years with Aer Lingus and more recently Ryanair. Just the unions trying to prove their relevance and keep the subs coming in.

Meanwhile the "rest of us" consider a microwave or kettle at the workplace to be a bonus, not a right.

uck51js9zml2yt

Irish Kings wrote: »

The amount of people that have fallen for this media smear story is worrying.

Wash your mouth out !!!

Kat1170

Amazing the number of posters that don't know Luas drivers are private sector workers

magentis

Kat1170 wrote: »

Amazing the number of posters that don't know Luas drivers are private sector workers

Do you honestly expect a high level of intelligence from the anti public sector neckbearded mouthbreathers?

jimmycrackcorm

Kat1170 wrote:

Amazing the number of posters that don't know Luas drivers are private sector workers

They hold a public sector asset (the luas infrastructure) to ransom. A proper private service would have competition.

If the luas contract could be awarded to another company in 2019 and the drivers could be replaced then they would be private sector employees.
Otherwise they are private sector only in name.

Kat1170

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

They hold a public sector asset (the luas infrastructure) to ransom. A proper private service would have competition.

If the luas contract could be awarded to another company in 2019 and the drivers could be replaced then they would be private sector employees.
Otherwise they are private sector only in name.

Whatever suits your public sector bashing narrative.

Every time someone wants to bash the public sector here all we hear is how if they were in the private sector XYZ would never happen. Well, now the shoe's on the other foot, guess what, still public sector bashing. Let them go on strike and bring in the scabs. Oh no, wait, I forgot, can't suggest that for the vital private sector worker :rolleyes:

Is this not a basic scheduling issue? If the luas only ran for 8 hours a day and all the drivers wanted to have lunch at the same time, then this would be an issue, but it runs for about 17 hours a day with over lapping shifts, it should be easy enough to come up with a roster that after about 4 hours of work, a driver arrives back to the depot he started in, and has lunch. then takes over from another driver, does 4 more hours of work, gets back to the depot, clocks off and goes home.

FTA69

I'm a trade union organiser. I don't begrudge the Luas drivers a decent wage, they work for a private company and Dublin is an expensive place. That having been said, SIPTU is a sh*t union staffed with complacent idiots (exceptions exist too obviously).

For years they were collaborating with the government and big business via social partnership, sucking all the power and agency out of workers and the only time you'd see them was fighting for some senior manager in the post office or whatever. They just end up in the stupidest of situations at times.

They have zero initiative of organising in traditionally unorganised places where people get treated like sh*t, I've no time for them.

Gatling

Is this spreading to Dublin bus now ,?

Was on a bus in the city centre while in traffic near Dublin castle a call came across the driver's radio (standing close to the cab) specifically reminding drivers to check the temperature of their bags on Thursday ,

Sounds really odd for a random message to come across the radio

IvySlayer

In work we have lots of fridges, the catering staff will inspect them every day. We have stickers and we have to put the correct day label on it or they will throw it straight in the bin! The government/companies must really be on a food safety binge or something.

Stephen15

Gatling wrote: »

Is this spreading to Dublin bus now ,?

Was on a bus in the city centre while in traffic near Dublin castle a call came across the driver's radio (standing close to the cab) specifically reminding drivers to check the temperature of their bags on Thursday ,

Sounds really odd for a random message to come across the radio

I couldn't tell you but I seriously doubt it. You have to take that with a grain of salt. DB drivers have nothing to do with Luas drivers and are on completely different terms and conditions.

DB drivers take their breaks in various different locations around the city not just in depots. So bringing in a lunch which requires refrigeration reheating isin't an option for many drivers unless they take their break in the depot which I'm not sure would even have those options. Unions have agreed to this as far as I'm aware as there has been much deliberation between the unions and management regarding breaks in the company over the years.

end of the road

jaxxx wrote: »

Can I get some of this stuff that all of these public service transport employees have been on for the last few years, cos I'd like a complete escape from reality too! Entitled sh*theads. What's next, they're gonna demand golden cutlery as well tea/coffee freshly picked straight from Brazil??

luas workers are private sector. they are employed by the operator transdev who operates luas.

andekwarhola wrote: »

What I hate most about this - and other disputes - is that, in this age of zero hour contracts, migrant workers and other genuine exploitations, we actually need unions more than ever for vulnerable and low-paid workers but you have a situation where unions are essentially becoming a lobby group for well-paid workers (from relatively 'well-paid' workers like Luas and Bus drivers that get a pretty decent wage for the skill-level of the job that they perform to those in cushy state and semi-state indenture and right up to consultants in highly monopolized state services) and denigrating the historical role of unions.

people need to join the unions if they want union representation. if people feel certain unions aren't what they want, then set up one themselves. people who are not part of a union can't expect for example, a transport union such as siptu to represent those workers when they aren't a member of a union.

vectorvictor wrote: »

Surely the labour market should dictate that though , not a pesky union run by people trying to boost their profile and see themselves on the big telly.

Conditions can only descend to a point before the employer will be unable to attract labour , therefore they should be able to level out naturally.

Poor treatment is not getting paid , working in unsafe conditions or being subject to verbal abuse etc... It is not poor treatment to be asked to carry your lunch with you AND even be given the bloody bag needed.

Same crap has gone on for years with Aer Lingus and more recently Ryanair. Just the unions trying to prove their relevance and keep the subs coming in.

Meanwhile the "rest of us" consider a microwave or kettle at the workplace to be a bonus, not a right.

it isn't always possible for the labour market to be left to decide terms and conditions. sometimes people to fight for change are needed and that is why unions existed and continue to exist. it's up to a person to either except their lot or fight for change, unions who may not represent someone can't be made responsible to help them unless they join them.

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

They hold a public sector asset (the luas infrastructure) to ransom. A proper private service would have competition.

If the luas contract could be awarded to another company in 2019 and the drivers could be replaced then they would be private sector employees.
Otherwise they are private sector only in name.

a proper private service won't always have competition. it will have competition where the market and infrastructure allows for it.
while the luas operator operates publically owned infrastructure, it, and the staff who work for it, are very much private sector. the staff being transferred to whichever company takes over in 2019 rather then being replaced with new staff, wouldn't make a difference to this.

Unsure if I've missed much here (haven't read the whole thread and not sure if i missed some details on the news) but if the lads are giving out that the only lunch they can have is in a cooler bag, then I'd argue that they have a fair point. Hot/cooked food should be possible (even if it means a mini-microwave or kettle in the Luas itself for the driver?).

If they do, however, have an option of hot food, but are just unhappy about having to eat it in the cab of the Luas, then id be less inclined to take their side.

ANXIOUS

Deleted User wrote: »

Unsure if I've missed much here (haven't read the whole thread and not sure if i missed some details on the news) but if the lads are giving out that the only lunch they can have is in a cooler bag, then I'd argue that they have a fair point. Hot/cooked food should be possible (even if it means a mini-microwave or kettle in the Luas itself for the driver?).

If they do, however, have an option of hot food, but are just unhappy about having to eat it in the cab of the Luas, then id be less inclined to take their side.

You've missed everything, they don't have to eat it in the cab. They've to eat it in a canteen that's not at the location they start their shift.

P_1

Heres a potentially controversial thought.

Are the likes of SIPTU, who only seem to look after you if you're in a big company where striking will raise their profile actually more damaging to the average private sector worker than any scumbag employer?

For example this case has most people thinking, wtf this is something I do on a daily basis.

I know they don't represent me or my interests. What's the solution? Set up our own union?

P_1

end of the road wrote: »

luas workers are private sector. they are employed by the operator transdev who operates luas.



people need to join the unions if they want union representation. if people feel certain unions aren't what they want, then set up one themselves. people who are not part of a union can't expect for example, a transport union such as siptu to represent those workers when they aren't a member of a union.



it isn't always possible for the labour market to be left to decide terms and conditions. sometimes people to fight for change are needed and that is why unions existed and continue to exist. it's up to a person to either except their lot or fight for change, unions who may not represent someone can't be made responsible to help them unless they join them.



a proper private service won't always have competition. it will have competition where the market and infrastructure allows for it.
while the luas operator operates publically owned infrastructure, it, and the staff who work for it, are very much private sector. the staff being transferred to whichever company takes over in 2019 rather then being replaced with new staff, wouldn't make a difference to this.

You've been given countless examples of SIPTU not giving a Shiite when members of theirs need help because their cause was not big or famous enough? How are you going to defend that? I know you're not going to and instead are going to go into more verbal diarrhoea.

Honestly debating with you is more frustrating then debating with TERFs and SWERFs on Twitter

The Rape of Lucretia

P_1 wrote: »

Heres a potentially controversial thought.

Are the likes of SIPTU, who only seem to look after you if you're in a big company where striking will raise their profile actually more damaging to the average private sector worker than any scumbag employer?

Undoubtedly. This Luas case is a perfect example. Common sense has been lost and the trade union mindset of contest and threat is way out of proportion to the core of the issue of lunch breaks.

Unions arose in an environment where the power gap between employees and employers was enormous: employees largely uneducated or even illiterate, a structure of social stratification where the rich were the masters and the poor were to know their place as subservient to them, and an absence of what we know today as all the protections of modern society : equality, employment, health and safety, and remuneration legislation.

But that is all history. Unions are obsolete. But still operate (partly due to inertia, partly due to the instinct of organisations to perpetuate themselves whether needed or not, partly due to there still being a portion of their clientel who have not yet realised that the world has changed from the above) as if this change had not taken place.

And in doing so, are a negative influence on society as a whole, including on those who they purport to represent. Getting lost in a totally out of date mode of thinking, that leads to the ridiculous, such as potentially depriving hundreds of thousands of commuters access to a state facility they have already paid for, because of an argument over how to keep a sandwich cool.

FTA69

The problem with SIPTU is that they're a hierarchical union geared toward "serving their members" which is a model doomed to failure, the idea that a union is a cash for service in case you're in trouble as opposed to the collective expression of working class people as a whole.

Unions spend too much time worrying about Johnny who crashed his forklift and has a disciplinary and not nearly enough organising new sectors and challenging on pay and conditions across key industrial sectors. Workers have had stagnating pay for years and they've been content to largely sit on their holes.

They've also sought to absolutely sandbag my own union on multiple occasions when we've tried to present a militant challenge to employers so some fat c*nt on 60k a year can preserve his industrial fiefdom.

I've never met a SIPTU organiser who wasn't crap.