Members of the Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union (Siptu) are set to step up their strike action in their ongoing dispute over pay on Dublin’s Luas tram system with a further three strikes now announced. The first strike took place at the end of last week – causing mass disruption to thousands of travellers in the Irish capital – and another 48 hour strike with now take place on Thursday 18th and Friday 19th February.
This will be followed by two further 24 hour strikes on 8th March and 17th March (St Patrick’s Day – a national holiday in Ireland) with Siptu’s members still claiming they are underpaid especially when compared to drivers on Irish Rail.
Last week it was claimed that they were looking for a 40% pay rise but the latest article on the subject now states that they want pay rises between 8% and 53%!
Transdev – operators of the line – have already said they already make a loss on the line and that if they awarded a 53% pay rise it would add a massive 6m euros (£4.65m) to its costs which would inevitable lead to fare rises for the paying public.
Presumably both parties remain open for talks to try and end these disruptive strikes.