Widespread disruption for commuters this morning and over the Bank Holiday weekend was forecast by senior union officials last night after the Irish Locomotives Drivers' Association (ILDA) escalated its unofficial action yesterday by placing secondary pickets at Dublin Bus depots.
The SIPTU national secretary, Mr Noel Dowling, said he would be "more than surprised" if the ILDA members did not "seek to create further chaos". He predicted pickets could be placed on Iarnrod Eireann, Bus Eireann and Dublin Bus depots. However, both bus companies said last night that they were confident they would not be disrupted.
A spokesman for Iarnrod Eireann said the company believed a "concentrated effort" would be made today to disrupt rail services on a one-day basis. He said the ILDA leadership appeared to take a "perverse pride in causing unnecessary hardship for commuters".
Mr Brendan Ogle, leader of the ILDA, said yesterday the patience of his 110 members in dispute had run out. He predicted that today's disruption would be "as bad as it has been for the last seven weeks; other than that I can't comment".
Asked if he had lost control of the ILDA members, he said the association's leadership had "lost control of the means to resolve this dispute. We have explored every avenue."
A statement from the ILDA national executive council yesterday said: "We are left with nothing positive to say to our members. Diplomacy has failed. Dialogue has been blocked at every turn."
The drivers in dispute, who refused a new pay and conditions deal with the company in June over concerns for safety, enter the 48th day of their dispute with Iarnrod Eireann management.
There was no bus service throughout west Dublin until mid-morning yesterday and thousands of commuters were left stranded after unofficial pickets were placed on Ringsend, Phibsboro and Conyngham depots. A picket was also placed on Fairview DART station and six rush-hour DART services were cancelled.
Mr Ogle said both the company, the Government and the Opposition parties had treated ILDA's members "with contempt". He had no prior knowledge of the pickets set up at the Dublin Bus depots at 5.45 a.m. yesterday.
A spokesman for Iarnrod Eireann condemned the picketing by up to 40 Dublin-based ILDA members and warned that if widespread picketing materialised today, it would further hamper the limited service. The company was "looking at the legal options open to it" but would not yet resort to such actions.
He said Iarnrod Eireann believed the ILDA leadership was being "disingenuous" by saying it had no prior knowledge of the pickets. The pickets were being used to further ILDA's "ongoing agenda of gaining legitimacy as a trade union despite a High Court ruling that ILDA cannot lawfully represent locomotive drivers".
A joint SIPTU and National Bus and Rail Union statement urged its members, many of whom refused to cross the pickets yesterday, to do the "right thing" and support their union colleagues.
Mr Dowling said he hoped union members in the bus companies realised that by refusing to pass the pickets they would be working against their colleagues in the rail service who had "gone through the democratic process, accepted the outcome and worked the new arrangements".
SIPTU and NBRU train drivers were "happy" with the five-day week, £29,500 per year and 46-hour working week, according to the joint statement, which denied there was a "safety issue" making it unworkable.
"Our members . . . are passing ILDA pickets every day. Those members of both SIPTU and NBRU have informed us that if in any resolution of this issue changes occur in the new deal, they themselves will engage in picketing."
Mr Ogle described the statement as "disgraceful, counterproductive and most likely to exacerbate the situation and heighten tensions".
A spokesman for Bus Eireann said the company did not expect disruption to its services today. A Dublin Bus spokesman said the company was "dismayed" that it had been involved in the dispute but did not believe it would be "targeted" today.