TRAIN STRIKES ‘INEVITABLE’

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Irish Rail strike looks likely to go ahead October bank holiday weekend

There could be train strikes by October. 

Staff at Irish Rail are unhappy they’re not getting a 4% pay rise and union members are to be balloted for industrial action.

Talks to try to solve the dispute broke up at the Workplace Relations Commission last night without agreement.

The general secretary of the National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU) Dermot O’Leary says he now expects his members will vote in favour of striking;

“We will be balloting members immediately and it will take I suppose about three weeks to do that,” “Following on from that we are obliged to serve at least seven days notice to the company and unfortunately we are looking at a situation where industrial action is probably inevitable towards the end of October.

He added there are a “litany of issues” the company is expecting workers to conform to in order to fund any pay-rise.

“It is unfortunate now that the people of this country, particularly those that use Irish Rail on a regular basis – commuters and long-distance travellers – are going to be disrupted in the very near future, probably in the middle towards the end of October,”.

Unions at the State-owned rail operator are to ballot about 4,000 staff in the company for strike action after talks with management broke down on Wednesday night after nearly 12 hours.

Workers are looking for pay increases of 3.75 per cent annually without any additional productivity concessions – similar to rises secured by staff at Dublin Bus and Luas after strikes last year.