A strike at Iarnród Éireann is now likely to go ahead, a senior official of the country's largest union Siptu has indicated.
Addressing the union's biennial delegate conference in Cork, Siptu vice-president Gene Mealy said the current row over pay at the State-owned rail operator was "likely to end up in industrial action".
Following the collapse of talks with management at the company last week, staff at Iarnród Éireann are currently balloting for industrial action as part of a claim for pay increases of about 3.75 per cent annually without productivity concessions.
Unions had previously signalled that any industrial action could take place in the run up to the October bank holiday weekend.
In his address to the conference Mr Mealy said challenges facing the union included ensuring that all existing public transport requirements were maintained and funded appropriately "while also maintaining our stance on taking industrial action where necessary so as to ensure that transport workers are not used to subside public transport in Ireland, as was attempted during the the Bus Éireann dispute".
“The latest example of this situation is the on-going engagement in Iarnród Éireann.”
Restrictions
Mr Mealy also warned that if the plan floated by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar earlier this year to introduce restrictions on strikes in essential services moved beyond a sound bite, "the trade union movement will bite back".
“We will organise and we will mobilise, and we will enure that that does not happen.”
Mr Mealy also said in the aviation sector Siptu would seek to ensure where at all possible that future airport infrastructure would be owned and operated by the State, and that staff employed in these facilities would be represented by unions.
He said that in the manufacturing sector between 2015 and September 2017 Siptu had concluded 280 pay agreements, with rises ranging from 2.5 per cent to 3 .5 per cent per annum on average.
He said in this sector the pay restoration agenda had largely been achieved, and pay increases were now the norm.
Services
He said in the services area 157 enterprise-level pay deals had been reached in the same period, which averaged in excess of 2.5 per cent.
Mr Mealy said between October 2015 and September 2017 Siptu had sanctioned 80 industrial disputes.
“As we emerge from the crisis of the last 10 years it is evident that workers have regained the confidence to take the fight to employers to protect and advance their terms and conditions of employment.”
He said in many cases a threat of a ballot for industrial action “moved the employers to conclude an agreement with our members”.
