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SIPTU HAS SAID that it will consider a further escalation of today and yesterday’s rail strike if there’s no movement from Iarnród Éireann to roll back on pay cuts.
A spokesperson for the union says that the current 48-hour stoppage is “unfortunate” but raised the possibility that there could be more following those already planned on 7-8 September and 21 September.
Up to 100,000 people are estimated to have been affected by today’s strike with both sides of the dispute acknowledging that the next round will cause even greater disruption.
The All-Ireland Hurling Final is on Sunday 7 September with more schools back in term the following day than was the case today.
The stoppages are being implemented by both Siptu and the National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU).
The dispute centres on a pay cut which came into effect from yesterday and saw a reduction of 1.7% on workers earning up to €50,000-a-year and 2.5% on salaries above that.
The pay cuts are slated to last for a period of 28 months and are backed by the Labour Court but Siptu’s Paul Cullen says the union are concerned that these cuts will lead to more down the line:
“The question mark is over future funding. The cuts are estimated to save just €8.7 million, that’s just over 10% of what is identified as a shortfall.”
Siptu puts the deficit at about €60 million.
Cullen says that workers would like to see a guarantee that no further cuts will follow and added that a ”package of proper funding” would also help create confidence among workers that they will not be tapped again.
But Iarnród Éireann says that these fears are completely unfounded as the company have said clearly that this won’t happen.
“It’s just not the case because it’s laid out in a Labour Court recommendation,” says spokesperson Barry Kenny. “It explicitly says that the cuts are for 28 months when they will be reversed, we’ve committed to that.”
Kenny adds that there was a previous agreement which left the option open for further cuts and the union is pointing to that rather than to the current one they are committed to.
“This has been stated time and time again,” he says, adding they’ve reduced non-payroll costs by 40% and plan to do more.
Escalation
Siptu says that there has been no direct contact from Iarnród Éireann about the pay cuts since the industrial action was announced on 24 July.
Cullen says that if there hasn’t been any by the time the second 48-hour stoppage comes around on 7 September then an escalation would have to be considered.
An executive meeting will take place after the 24-hour stoppage on 21 September but Cullen says that if there’s no contact in the next two weeks than the message would be clear the the company does not wish to enter discussions.
But responding to the possibility of an escalation, Kenny says that the “current action itself is counter-productive” and extending it would show a disconnect between the union and their members.
“It suggests that they’re not listening to their workers. They don’t want want to be out, they understand that costs have to be reduced and unions threatening to escalate is just a case of them trying to cause a scare.”
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Amazing list of accomplishments for someone who is only 42
And to think, if her parents had stayed in Ireland, she could have risen through the ranks of the ICA to become a Branch Secretary or even the lady that does the roster for cleaning the church.
Congrats to her.
Will she condemn the US actions in the Middle East as terrorism?
Nope. She’s a cheerleader. She wouldn’t be where she is if she’d gone around telling the truth!
Sounds like a lot of this administration. Divide the country more and blame the republicans.
As a famous man once said, “Bush is gone”.
she called Hillary a monster :-) good appointment imo
This is the same woman that wrote a book entitled “A problem from hell”. The premise of the book was that the U.S. didn’t intervene enough in another countries affairs.
Correct. She is a major proponent of ‘humanitarian intervention’ – a vile euphemism.
Yeah like those terrible times when they intervened in Somalia to try and protect the food supply to millions of starving people or when they went into Bosnia and kosovo to stop ethnic cleansing. How dare they!
You obviously haven’t watch the film ‘The whistleblower ‘ starring Rachel Weisz . True story .
Peter — Can I interest you in a second-hand car?
Oh you’re hilarious Petr. Why don’t you entertain us with stories of the fantastic human rights record of your heros in Russia, China and North Korea then?
Anyone who actually read the book couldn’t but agree that the delays in intervention documented in the book were mistakes.
But if you’d also read other books and used your own head you might arrive at your own independent conclusion.
@ Peter: Somalia was a long, long way from an attempt to “protect the food supply to millions of starving people”. They didn’t even arrive at the right time or place to prevent the famine – the US (technically the UN, but the US were the largest contingent) went to Mogadishu, while the famine was close to the Kenyan border. (It was also mostly over by the time they arrived.) Instead, they ended up being drawn into the Somali civil war and, at one point, bombed a meeting of Somalis and killed 50 of them in an attempt to kill a Somali warlord. It was a utter debacle, and a terrible example to use if you’re trying to discuss the benefits of humanitarian intervention.
If the ruling classes of powerful states started acting altruistically to ‘save’ people here and there it would be the first time this has ever happened in human history.
Powerful states and other powerful entities tend to behave in a way that protects their own narrow interests. Morality and humanitarianism have literally no place in a discussion of international relations. Those who, against all evidence, believe otherwise or at best deeply naive.
maybe the US ad other countries UK, France etc had aleady intervened and that was parrt of progrma
problem^ sorry for typos
@Peter Gavin
the fact that other countries have a sbad o worse Human rights than USA is no argument to be joyous about the Human Rights in US – which are being removed with Patriot Act and NDAA – and increasing survelliance of the population .
As for interventions – the US record of interventions is disastrous both by themselves and by proxy from Vietnam , to Chile , Chagos Island , Phillipines , Iraq , Afgahistan . Its a long list – like all imperialists they leave behind death and destruction .
IF USA is so great – why dont they stay at home – they dont as they need to rob other countries to maintain their declining [ for the majotity ] standard of living .
taken from John pilgers site – latest article
”The “mess” left by George Bush and Tony Blair in Iraq is a sectarian war, the bombs of 7/7 and now a man waving a bloody meat cleaver in Woolwich. Bush has retreated back into his Mickey Mouse “presidential library and museum” and Tony Blair into his jackdaw travels and his money.
Their “mess” is a crime of epic proportions, wrote Von Sponeck, referring to the Iraqi Ministry of Social Affairs’ estimate of 4.5 million children who have lost both parents
full article
http://johnpilger.com/articles/from-iraq-a-tragic-reminder
”
I love the assumption that if you oppose the US’s foreign policies you must be an ardent supporter of Russia, China, North Korea etc. Can’t I hate everyone?
@aoife but the food aid was being delivered into the port of mogadishu and then intercepted by aidid and other warlords so that’s where the un forces needed to be
@ Jim I’m not trying to portray the US as some paragon of virtue and I disagree with some of their actions certainly but they are dammed if they do and dammed if they don’t. Anytime they intervene somewhere they are condemned as imperialists but if they don’t then they are condemned as aloof and uncaring usually with jibes that there is no oil so they don’t care. Well there was no oil in Somalia or Bosnia or kosovo but they acted while Europe wrang it’s hands and did nothing. I remember the horror here when we saw the killing begin in kosovo but there were no protests against the Serbs. However the second The US started to bomb Belgrade there were demos from the usual left wing in Ireland against the Americans despite the fact that they were trying to stop the sort of ethnic cleansing seen in Bosnia. I just hate the knee jerk anti Americanism that is so common here despite them being a good friend to this country and all the ties of blood and culture
I love the assumption that if you oppose the USâs foreign policies you must be an ardent supporter of Russia, China, North Korea etc.
” They are condemned as being aloof ”.
Now that is one word I have never heard about US . They go in guns blazing – unlike the Chinese – who do business .
as for kosovo – again I refer to John Pilger – one of the few real investigative journalists left on Planet Earth http://www.labournet.net/balkans/9911/pilger.html
the fact that there is no oil – well its not always about Oil – but Power and control
What the heck did they do in Indonesia – the great eperiment in New World Order .
Why did they bomb Laos – the most bombed country on Planet Earth .one could give many examples of US inetrference .- Why do they train death squds – to do their killing in other coutries eg Honduras
the whole thing is sickening .They are a Terrorist nation with a Terrorist Foreign Policy – and this woman is now part of it – hardly something to be proud of .
Having it her way theyd probably have nuked the entire planet. But then they’d run out of people to terrorize.
Mistake thinking a government can’t be a terrorist. Pity the British didn’t wipe the Americans out centuries ago….
She wrote a great biography of Sergio Vieira de Mello, the UN diplomat who was killed in Iraq just after the invasion in 2003. Not sure if her support for the intervention in Libya is something to boast about though. Time will tell.
Her article about the Clinton Administration’s lack of reaciton to Rwanda genocide, published in The Atlantic, is very good. http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2001/09/bystanders-to-genocide/304571/
Obama have Irish roots so he taking care of his Irish families , love it
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