Members of the Irish Locomotive Drivers' Association are to return to work at 9 a.m. on Monday and use the joint Labour Court/Labour Relations Commission review to air their grievances.
However, a leading ILDA executive member, Mr Finbarr Masterson, warned last night that it would also be using grievance procedures at local level to protect its members from working what it believed were unsafe aspects of the new agreement.
Mr Masterson rejected suggestions that the decision of ILDA members to work the "New Deal for Locomotive Drivers" under protest after 10 weeks was a defeat. He said there was a "very, very strong feeling of solidarity" at yesterday's meeting in the Ashling Hotel, Dublin, where the decision was taken to end industrial action.
Afterwards, ILDA members marched in a body to Tom Johnson House in Beggars' Bush to notify the chairman of the Labour Court, Mr Finbarr Flood, and the chief executive of the LRC, Mr Kieran Mulvey, of their decision. "All of the concerns we had about safety issues are in the lap of the Labour Court and the LRC," Mr Masterson said. "We hope they will deal with them in weeks rather than months."
He said the statement by Iarnrod Eireann on Thursday that it would not introduce part-time contingency drivers for two years was a significant achievement by the ILDA in addressing key safety concerns. At the same time he accepted members had little choice at this stage but to return to work.
He said that as soon as they return to work ILDA members would use grievance procedures at local level to express concerns "about extra long rosters and rest days. Our fellows will not be working rest days, except by individual choice".
However, he admitted that with members having lost in the region of £5,000 each over the past 10 weeks many of them might want to work extra days.
Meanwhile, the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, has welcomed the decision of ILDA members to return to work. "I look forward to a full resumption of services from Monday. I believe the Government, in partnership with the company and its workforce, can now get on with the task of revitalising the rail network and offering a more complete and better service to passengers."
Iarnrod Eireann said it hopes to be able to restore full service by "early next week". It apologised for disruption to the public and thanked the two-thirds of drivers who remained at work. The SIPTU president, Mr Des Geraghty, also welcomed the decision of the ILDA drivers. "I hope we can now tackle any outstanding issues in a constructive fashion in the weeks ahead." Resolution of the dispute was "a good thing for all drivers, including those who kept the service going in this difficult period, and for the travelling public".
"I hope the Government will now provide the resources needed to provide a good public transport system because a lot of the problems stem from a lack of resources over many years."
The NBRU general secretary, Mr Peter Bunting, said: "I hope that the victimisation visited on our members will now cease. There will be no reciprocation by our members.
"Hopefully those who return to work will benefit from the new working conditions and will learn they are not as negative as has been stated."
The 10-week industrial action had been "on the basis of misinformation", he said.