Talks on rail line dispute continue overnight

Negotiations to avoid the prospect of a disruptive strike by rail-line maintenance workers, due to begin this morning, continued over the weekend and into last night.

SIPTU's national negotiating panel worked on a position paper until the early hours of yesterday morning, sending it to Iarnrod Eireann at 2 a.m. The paper was considered by the company which sent a negotiating team to meet SIPTU in Dublin's Aisling Hotel yesterday evening.

Although members of both negotiating teams expected a deal, by 9 p.m. last night the teams were still working out details of a pay and productivity agreements.

According to SIPTU, if the strike were to go ahead it would be potentially much more damaging than the current dispute involving members of the Irish Locomotive Drivers' Association (ILDA). The line workers are required to inspect rail lines daily or near-daily, and the withdrawal of their labour could halt most train services within days.

A dispute involving SIPTU would also considerably strengthen the hand of the ILDA members, who would then be able to justify remaining in dispute on safety grounds. However, a spokesman for Iarnrod Eireann said efforts would continue to find a solution and it would be a mistake to confuse the disputes.

The absence of the 680 line workers, mostly members of SIPTU, who are required to inspect the permanent way, could bring the network to a halt within days. The strike notice served five weeks ago following a ballot of workers was due to expire today. SIPTU has rejected a 20 per cent productivity-related pay award recommended by the Labour Court.

Other sticking points include stipulations under the proposed pay agreement on compulsory night work and new rostering arrangements.

A line worker's basic wage is between £210 and £227 a week. With extensive overtime, this can rise to an annual figure of between £15,000 and £20,000 a year.

The workers claim they are the "poor relations" in the company and have stressed that there is a considerable gap between what they are looking for and what the company is offering.

Unofficial strikes last March over the issue caused major disruption throughout the State, and Dublin businesses lost up to £18 million, according to the Small Firms Association. These figures included losses to retail business and suppliers. Businesses had lost £43 million since bus strikes began in February.

The Dublin Chamber of Commerce said retailers experienced a decrease in sales of between 10 per cent and 20 per cent during the week.