The August public holiday weekend may be targeted by train drivers for renewed stoppages when they meet on Sunday. Train drivers normally work a six-day week, but Monday, August 3rd, a public holiday, is an official rest day, as well as Sunday, August 2nd.
The National Locomotive Drivers Committee will also be discussing the situation in the light of last Sunday's action, when InterCity services were severely disrupted as a result of 300 drivers availing of their right to take the day off. Normally about half of them work Sundays.
The Labour Relations Commission has suspended all negotiations with the unions in Iarnrod Eireann because of the unofficial industrial action by the drivers committee last Sunday. It is reviewing the situation.
Yesterday the committee chairman Mr Brendan Ogle said: "The meeting this coming Sunday is to consider the disruption to services that took place, the events leading up to it and the involvement of the various parties."
Mr Ogle, who is a member of the SIPTU rail council, said there was "anger at the role of the unions. By openly criticising their members they let the company off the hook in relation to the delays that took place in negotiations. We thought we'd heard the last of `cosy cartels in CIE' some years ago, but it obviously still exists.
He was optimistic that progress could be made once talks began. He denied that the drivers committee was trying to replace the official union structures. "We want the unions to do the job we are paying them as drivers to do."
Mr Ogle would not comment on the type of action to be considered, but delegates are expected to discuss targeting the August public holiday and holding strike ballots in local depots. They may also review their long working week from a safety perspective.
The senior SIPTU negotiator at Iarnrod Eireann, Mr Tony Tobin, said: "I do not accept any of Mr Ogle's comments and actions, which are creating serious problems and have already put talks off the rails. He has created the problem of delays in negotiations, not us. It comes as no surprise to me that the LRC has withdrawn its facilities over last weekend's unofficial action by drivers. They stated clearly beforehand that they would do so."