Despite hopes in March that the disruptive strike action on Dublin\u2019s Luas tram system over pay was over the dispute is ongoing with further strikes due to take place later this month and into May. The last we reported on this damaging saga was in March when a deal seemed to have been reached following lengthy discussions but this pay offer was rejected with workers demanding higher pay increases.<\/p>\n
It may be remembered that this dispute was first in the news at the start of 2016 with various reports suggesting that workers on Luas wanted pay rises of between 40% and 53% as they weren\u2019t paid as much as those who worked in similar jobs on the Irish rail network. Unsurprisingly Transdev \u2013 operators of Luas \u2013 said that increases of this size were not sustainable and so the first strikes were called. Talks took place at the Workplace Relations Commission and the result of this was that there would be an 18.7% incremental pay rise for drivers over 33 months (this would have been an immediate 2%, a further 2% in January 2017, 3% in January 2018 and 3% in January 2019) \u2013 other grades of worker on Luas would have received slightly different pay increases.<\/p>\n
The Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union (Siptu) agreed to put this deal to their members which they did but it was rejected leading to further strike action earlier this month. More talks took place between the Union and Transdev recently but the result of this seems to be that both sides are further apart than ever before with claim and counter claim in the press. Transdev claim that the demands are still in excess of what is sustainable and have allegedly warned Siptu that they may start to deduct wages if the dispute continues in order to cover losses and take legal action which could lead to reduced hours and redundancies. Siptu have warned that if this action is taken it could prolong the dispute and lead to an \u201call out indefinite strike\u201d.<\/p>\n
With no further talks planned all that is known is that the previous incremental pay increase has been withdrawn and that there will be further strikes on 23\/24 April, 28 April, 4 May, 13 May, 20 May, 26\/27 May.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately as is always the case in industrial disputes like this the key people who no-one seems to care about is the passengers who would just like to go about their daily business getting to work, school or for a day out. Many of these people would probably love it if they were offered a pay increase such as the incremental increase but instead are probably having to spend more money on getting to and from work. Whatever happens the reputation of Luas has taken a huge hit and it will probably take a long time for this to be restored regardless of the outcome.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Despite hopes in March that the disruptive strike action on Dublin\u2019s Luas tram system over pay was over the dispute is ongoing with further strikes due to take place later this month and into May. The last we reported on … Continue reading