Hundreds of rail passengers had their travel plans disrupted yesterday when unofficial action by a number of Iarnród Éireann staff at Kent station in Cork led to the cancellation of early services.
The unofficial action by members of the National Bus and Railworkers' Union and SIPTU led to the cancellation of all Cork commuter trains between Kent station and both Cobh and Mallow between 5.45am and 10am.
It also led to the cancellation of the 5.15am and 7am Cork-Dublin services and the 8am Cork-Tralee service, with an estimated 700 passengers affected by the mainline cancellations.
Iarnród Éireann's business development manager in Cork, Andrew Roche, said around 2,000 commuters from Cobh and Mallow were accommodated on a bus service between the two towns and Kent station.
Normal services were restored at 11am when Iarnród Éireann management agreed to recall a disciplinary warning notice issued to permanent way staff, who maintain the tracks, and other staff following an earlier unofficial stoppage on Tuesday.
NBRU executive member Dermot O'Leary said the dispute centred on a grievance by two permanent way staff members who had referred the matter to an internal monitoring committee but were refused permission to attend a committee meeting on Monday.
The two had reverted to an old working system last December over the failure of the company to address their grievance. They were issued with a series of disciplinary warnings culminating in a final warning notice on Tuesday.
Mr O'Leary said the NBRU obtained assurances from senior management in Dublin that no one who participated in Tuesday's unofficial stoppage would be victimised or penalised.
However, management in Cork issued disciplinary warnings to eight staff on Wednesday, prompting some 40-50 NBRU and SIPTU members to mount the unofficial protest yesterday morning, said Mr O'Leary.
A meeting between management and unions was scheduled for last night.
