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IRISH RAIL HAS postponed its plans to run Darts every 10 minutes due to what it described as the “intransigence” of unions.
Siptu has denied that the issue is due to the union’s actions.
The proposed 10-minute frequency for DART services had been planned to commence on 10 April.
Irish Rail said of the change:
This is due to trade union intransigence on behalf of SIPTU and NBRU who represent DART drivers, who have refused to engage on normal timetable changes in response to changes in demand, and walked out of Workplace Relations Commission discussions on the issue.
It described the trade unions as using “the requirements of our customers as a bargaining chip in pursuit of completely separate issues, citing productivity despite the company training additional drivers to deliver the service; and seeking pay increases of up to 25%”.
However, a Siptu spokesperson told TheJournal.ie:
“We reject the assertion that this is the fault of the trade unions, basically because the 10-minute Dart service has always been an integral part of productivity discussions”.
He said that Irish Rail is”not in a position to introduce the 10-minute Dart service because the drivers will not be signed until June of this year”.
“It is not fair to say the trade unions are to blame for this,” he said. “We have always maintained this is part of the overall discussion.”
He said Siptu members “are clearly saying we want to await the outcome of the productivity discussions which won’t happen until June”.
The National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU)’s general secretary Dermot O’Leary said: ”Blaming Dart drivers and their trade unions is disingenuous in the extreme”.
He said that the government has a responsibility to both passengers and staff to ensure the appropriate funding is in place to run the rail service.
The NBRU has written to Irish Rail this morning to tell the company that “in absence of real dialogue on pay we will be left with no alternative but to accede to the clamour from our members to ballot for industrial action”.
Irish Rail apologised to customers for the change, but said it will however increase train size on a range of peak DART services to address growth in passenger numbers.
“From 10 April, we will deliver extra peak capacity for thousands of customers in both morning and evening peak,” it said in a statement.
The company also said that the extra drivers who had been trained to allow the service to expand “will reduce the need for additional hours from drivers within the existing schedule”. It has trained one group of nine drivers and has another group in training.
Existing services on DART, Drogheda/Dundalk Commuter, Maynooth/M3 Parkway Commuter, Sligo and Rosslare Europort lines will continue unchanged until further notice. There will be some minor changes to Belfast Enterprise services from 10 April.
WOW, all the pro-Chinese t-ro-lls already on here……..
I just read an utterly insane comment that HK protestors should be thankful they’re not facing the NYPD?!!
Just how blind to China’s, literal, decades long abuses of human rights do they think we are?
@Tricia G: the 50 cent army is always around for these articles to spout their muck.
It’s both Full Moon
@Seriousnojoke: You mean all those people being kettled in Causeway bay by Police right now?
@Seriousnojoke: You think people in HK should consider themselves lucky because they are not dealing with NYPD. I disagree, Hong Kongers are lucky because the CCP have been kind not send them to concentration camps like the have for the Uyghurs in mainland China.
@Seriousnojoke: Pro-PRC troll.
@Seriousnojoke: LMFAO
@Seriousnojoke: You are a CCP pansy. The police harrassed a senior citizen for carry a yellow balloon ffs and charge groups of people who gather to cross the street at crossings, then arrest minors for baseless charges. Reading an Apple daily publication gains you the attention of police, like the guy alone in the MTR surround by 12 or more police while he read the paper.
@Seriousnojoke: propaganda troll for the CCP.
@Little Pudding: “the CCP have been kind not send them to concentration camps like the have for the Uyghurs”
Give them time!
Move to Taiwan and report from there instead. That will really pi*s off the CCP.
25 years ago, I was worried about China for all of us…. kept saying that in several debates… here we are….
Apple Daily, full lies, bias views or opinions, we call it as poison Apple, just like Fox News, other media debunks their lies and nobody’s cares.
In hk, the journalist was cheap, just pay €25 that is all. The most time they have tons of “journalists” standing between police and riots, literally standing between them. The police couldn’t do their job, just like mosquitos, so annoying. One of the photo i’ve see is one police hold smoke grenade gun standing at the corner and aim, that is all on hk media, but the full photo is about 50 journalists around him and taking photo of him, who cares about that?
Denzel Washington said if you read the newspaper, if you don’t read it, you’re misinformed, What is the long-term effect of too much information? One of the effects is the need to be first, not even to be true anymore.”
So what a responsibility you all have; to tell the truth, not to just be first, but to tell the truth.
“We live in a society now where it’s just first. Who cares? Get it out there. We don’t care who it hurts, we don’t care who we destroy, we don’t care if it’s true. Just say it, sell it.”
Harrow
I had a comment deleted because I was critical of journalists and their of of the tv licence scam
have your say