Row over €500 Gift Voucher could lead to strike

[F Great Eastern]

Gotta love the NBRU:
http://www.thejournal.ie/irish-rail-vouchers-row-3752282-Dec2017/

A UNION REPRESENTING staff at Irish Rail has accused the company of being both Ebenezer Scrooge and The Grinch over a €500 voucher.

In recent Labour Court talks, it was recommended that the vouchers be given to staff as a goodwill gesture. However, one union has been angered that the vouchers are only for Dunnes Stores, not multi-store vouchers.

Staff last week voted to approve a pay deal which will see them receive 2.5% pay increases for the next three years. 69% of Irish Rail’s NBRU members have voted to accept the deal, but a letter sent to Irish Rail management by the union’s general secretary Dermot O’Leary accuses management of looking for a fight.

The irony of Christmas being the season of goodwill is not lost on our members, although the Ebenezer Scrooge type behaviour being demonstrated by the company on this occasion should not really surprise those of us that have been attempting to engage on industrial relations issues over the last four years.

“It is a matter of grave concern to the NBRU that there appears to be a determination at senior management level within Iarnród Éireann to seek out confrontation at every turn.

I'm not sure how they thought going public with this is going to gain them much sympathy.

 

[F Great Eastern]

Now being suggested this could result in a deal on ongoing industrial relations issues will be rejected because of the voucher not meeting their approval which could result in a strike.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ire...oucher-may-trigger-new-rail-dispute-1.3344314

A row over a tax-free €500 voucher for staff at Irish Rail, which formed part of a settlement to a dispute at the company before Christmas, could lead to further industrial trouble on the railways in the weeks ahead.

The National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU) said staff at the State-owned rail operator were unhappy that the voucher could only be used at one retailer and also that they had to sign up to an Irish Rail email account to access it.

Drivers at the company are currently balloting on a deal involving a 1.15 per cent pay rise for past productivity in return for the introduction of new mandatory arrangements for mentoring trainee drivers.

However, NBRU general secretary Dermot O’Leary said, based on feedback from members, “the voucher debacle would lead me to deduce that this ballot will go down”.

 

[F Great Eastern]

As predicted, the ballot has been rejected by members of the union by a massive margin
https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2018/0110/932345-irish-rail-vote/

Iarnród Éireann passengers face a renewed risk of industrial disruption after train drivers overwhelmingly rejected a Labour Court recommendation which would have delivered a pay rise of over 1% in return for certain productivity. The 1.15% drivers' award was on top of a general increase of 2.5% per year for three years awarded to all Iarnród Éireann staff.

For the last 20 months drivers have refused to mentor any new drivers, leaving 31 trainees unable to qualify as full drivers. This row has also contributed to the delay in introducing a ten minute frequency on Dublin's DART service, and the expansion of other services.

The drivers have been effectively getting paid for the last 20 months but have had no work to do because existing staff won't mentor them.

Union sources said the vote also reflects driver frustration at Iarnród Éireann giving staff a €500 voucher for Dunnes Stores (as part of a Labour Court recommendation) instead of a "One for All" voucher which could be spent anywhere. They were also concerned that to sign up for the voucher, they had to log on to an Iarnród Éireann email address.

However, drivers said that up to 800 staff did not have access to a computer, and many feared that this could herald the introduction by stealth of monthly electronic payment. It is understood that over 200 Iarnród Éireann employees are still paid on a weekly basis in cash.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Paid in *cash*?

What year is this, 1900?

 

[F Great Eastern]

It's a long held tradition in the CIE group of companies unfortunately - the practicalities of it and the cost of paying staff this way must be huge.

I presume that they are paying someone to withdraw masses amounts of cash every week with the aid of private security back to the depots and then dividing it out and that is the case for every single depot in the country.

Then you add in the staff who are paid to do nothing and frequencies cannot be increased and it's a very sorry tale since it's meant that effectively other than minor changes, timetables in the whole country have been frozen for two years as without being able to train up additional drivers, no new services can be operated.

 

[F Great Eastern]

Irish Rail have said they are going to pay the increase of 1.15% and pay a €31 a day mentor allowance to those that are supposed to be mentoring despite the ballot being rejected and they expect staff to comply.

For almost two years the drivers have refused to mentor new staff, leaving 31 drivers unable to complete their training and qualify as drivers who have been on the payroll for that time despite having no work to do.

The refusal has also delayed developments including the delivery of more frequent services on a number of lines and extended the operating hours of others. Essentially the timetable has been at a standstill for two years.

 

[F Great Eastern]

The unions are now balloting the staff for strike action once again after they faced down attempts from Irish Rail to force them to comply with training new drivers to assist with the delivery of more frequent services on a number of lines and extended hours on others.

It is now over two years since increased timetables were proposed on a number of lines, but because of the current training row the timetables have been at a standstill for this time whilst 31 drivers have spent almost two years being paid full salary to do nothing.

The situation is said to be causing dire financial issues for Irish Rail who are unable to scale up services to meet demand and increase revenues whilst having to pay approx €1.5m a year on staff who have no work to do whilst also losing large amounts of revenue due to strikes and industrial unrest.

It has also been suggested that the current drivers will not sign up to mentor new trainees because further drivers will limit the amount of overtime they can earn and overtime is at a record high in Irish Rail right now which is hugely boosting the earnings of senior drivers.

 

[duesselmartin]

Paid in *cash*?

What year is this, 1900?

Can one not hand out a cheque to be cashed in at a bank?
That weekly payments still exist also surprise me.

 

[infobleep]

Was paying people cash in the past more expensive or is it just more expensive now because less people do it?

I am surprised workers are still paid cash though, in a first world country like Ireland, when working for a large firm.

 

[F Great Eastern]

They're just used to it now - Apparently it costs the company almost €10 per drop off per employee.

 

[THC]

None of this helps the railway's cause. There's clearly a need for modernisation of working practices and even trade union reform. If Leo's not the man for the job, given his political stance and position, then I don't know who is.

THC

 

[F Great Eastern]

Going back to the Labour Courts now it seems next week.

Biggest issue remains mentoring for new drivers - two years now since any more started work and extra trains are needed but Irish Rail can't do it when they can't let any new staff on the railway for that length of time as they can't complete their training due to the refusal to mentor.

Probably suits the current drivers fine as they're doing rest day working on a regular basis and large amounts of overtime that will be cut if Irish Rail has adequate number of drivers, so unions are now looking for a reduction in the working week in connection with this situation, idea being that some of their standard hours now will be counted as overtime to counter the fact less overtime will be available.