LIMERICK rail passengers could be facing delays and cancellations after a union announced it is to ballot its members for strike action.
The National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU) says it will ballot all of its train drivers for “all-out strike action”, in response to what they say is Irish Rail changing its terms and conditions within the training regime without their agreement.
Some 60 staff work for Irish Rail in Limerick’s Colbert station, which is a hub for services to Dublin, Galway, Cork and Waterford.
The NBRU’s general secretary Dermot O’Leary said: “The management at Iarnrod Éireann have set themselves on a course of major confrontation with its train drivers as a result of their decision to dispense with longstanding practice, by completely ignoring the jointly agreed procedures around how industrial relation matters are addressed. The fact is that the agreed training regime at the company is currently one of a voluntarist nature, and is solely at the discretion of the individual driver. The decision to break this agreement by forcing actual changes to terms and conditions onto workers is both unprecedented and contrary to how disputed matters should be addressed within our dispute procedures.”
Mr O’Leary claimed Irish Rail bosses ignored union suggestions, and as a result, he has written to the Workplace Relations Commission to look for an intervention.
If workers do strike, it will be the second time in less than six months it happens.
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