Luas management has said payroll systems for February will be structured so staff who are taking part in strike action will have up to four days of pay deducted this month.
Luas operator Transdev said a continuation of the current pay dispute will "undermine the company's ability to protect existing terms and conditions".
It is understood many staff at the company believed that, under payroll arrangements, deductions arising from last week’s strike and the planned two-day stoppage scheduled for this week would be spread over two separate pay periods.
Less pay
However, in a letter to staff yesterday, Transdev managing director
Gerry Madden
said: “In February’s payroll, the company will process deductions for the strike days on which you were scheduled to attend work in February. For some employees, this will mean up to four days of deductions from their wages on the 26th February. Next month’s payroll will be similarly affected for the 24-hour stoppages scheduled to take place on March 8th and 17th.”
Mr Madden also restated staff bonuses for the year, worth 6.5 per cent, will not be paid as a result of the industrial action. "So we are all losers in the current strike situation and our capacity to work with Siptu to improve terms and conditions over the life of the contract [for operating Luas] has been seriously damaged by this industrial action.
“The scale of the penalties we face are in the public domain and any loss of income to the company through work stoppages or work-to-rule action will have to be factored into a final resolution. A continuation of the dispute will only serve to make this financial situation worse and undermine our ability to protect existing terms and conditions.”
Up to 90,000 people will be affected by two further days of strikes planned for tomorrow and Friday this week.
Terms and conditions
The industrial action forms part of a campaign for improved terms and conditions, including pay increases of up to 53 per cent in some cases.
Earlier this week Luas staff served notice of further stoppages on March 8th and on St Patrick’s Day. At this stage, there is no sign of any further third-party intervention aimed at resolving the dispute.
