THE HIGH COURT has ordered a TD and two councillors to stop blockading Greyhound bin trucks in Dublin.
The order was made against TD Joan Collins and councillors Tina MacVeigh and Patrick Dunne, all members of People Before Profit.
The waste management company had gone to court to try to prevent people from stopping the trucks from picking up rubbish, during a dispute which has lasted almost two months.
Greyhound said it regretted having to go to court, but said it was necessary after a number of incidents where trucks had been “illegally blocked by both striking workers and protesters”.
The company also said that agency and contract workers had been abused, intimidated and threatened.
A union representing the Greyhound workers said it will continue to hold peaceful pickets at the company’s depots in Dublin 22 and Dublin 12.
One worker said he and his colleagues want to return to work but that the company needs to end the dispute.
“My colleagues and I do not earn large amounts of money to carry out the essential task of collecting domestic refuse in Dublin,” said Jesse Hughes, who is a shop steward for SIPTU.
“Greyhound operatives earn between €9.50 and €11.45 per hour. Drivers earn €15.66 an hour. It is these wages that the company is seeking to cut by up to 35%”.
SIPTU says the workers have been locked out of the company since 17 June for refusing to accept the company’s plan to cut their wages by around 30% and change their employment conditions.
However Greyhound, which has been employing new staff to carry out waste collections during the strike, says the workers will still be paid more than the industry average.
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