ILDA unlikely to attend review of dispute

Hopes for a solution to the eight-week train drivers' dispute diminished yesterday after the executive of the Irish Locomotive Drivers' Association indicated that it would be unlikely to accept the joint initiative offered by the Labour Relations Commission and the Labour Court.

In a separate development, the prospect of a potentially more disruptive strike, this time by line maintenance workers who are members of SIPTU, appeared to recede after Iarnrod Eireann made a renewed offer on pay.

The ILDA leadership feels its members are being asked to return to work the agreement which gave rise to the dispute in the first place. ILDA has already refused on safety grounds to work new rosters which it claims could include 10-hour shifts.

Mr Brendan Ogle, the executive secretary of ILDA, was in contact with Iarnrod Eireann and Mr Kieran Mulvey, the chairman of the LRC, yesterday to seek "clarification" of this and nine other points in advance of the meeting of the ILDA executive in Tullamore, Co Offaly, tomorrow.

Mr Ogle also said that during an exchange of faxes between the parties he had outlined in a position paper the conditions under which ILDA members could return to work. He declined to expand on these or the nine other questions, saying that they would be released later this morning.

However, he told The Irish Times that following his communications with Iarnrod Eireann, he was "not inspired with confidence for a successful outcome".

Mr Ogle maintained that he was not rejecting the initiative but "would be working very hard over the weekend to clarify it".

Iarnrod Eireann last night accused ILDA of trying to renegotiate the initiative and maintained that working the new roster was explicit in the terms on which the Labour Court-LRC offered to intervene.

A spokesman said the proposed independent review of the dispute was based on a clear expectation that all drivers would return to work under the new conditions of employment.

Meanwhile Iarnrod Eireann has made a new offer to its line maintenance staff who are members of SIPTU. With strike notice due to run out on Monday, the company is facing a strike which is potentially more disruptive than the ILDA dispute and which could close the rail network within days.

SIPTU will discuss the offer at a meeting of its national negotiating panel in Dublin today, and was not commenting on the revised offer pending that meeting.

However, The Irish Times understands that the main elements of the new offer contain a dropping of the insistence on night-time working and a revised pay offer, matters which were previously major sticking points.