A strongly worded statement from SIPTU and the NBRU condemning yesterday's unexpected secondary pickets by Irish Locomotive Drivers' Association (ILDA) members on Dublin Bus depots was likely to exacerbate the current dispute, Mr Brendan Ogle, leader of the striking ILDA train drivers, said last night.
Mr Ogle's comments came as the State braces itself for the possibility of widespread disruption to transport services over the Bank Holiday weekend. Last night he said ILDA members were "as frustrated now as they were this morning".
He said the national executive council of ILDA had "lost control of the means to resolve this dispute. We have explored every avenue." Mr Ogle described the joint SIPTU/NBRU statement as "disgraceful, counter-productive and most likely to exacerbate the situation and heighten tensions".
The two recognised drivers' unions called on their members, many of whom observed yesterday's illegal pickets, to do the "right thing" and support union colleagues in the rail service who agreed a new pay and conditions deal with Iarnrod Eireann in June. The ILDA, an unofficial group, rejected the deal on safety grounds.
Unexpected pickets began at the Ringsend, Phibsborough and Conygham Road bus depots at 5.45 a.m. yesterday. Bus drivers did not pass the pickets, leading to widespread chaos for commuters in the west, southwest and northwest of the city. A picket at the Fairview DART station also resulted in six rush-hour DART services not running.
The pickets were lifted before 9 a.m. but it was lunchtime before the Dublin Bus schedule fully resumed. A Dublin Bus spokesman estimated that half the company's fleet had been affected.
Iarnrod Eireann, which does not deal with the ILDA because it does not have a negotiating licence condemned the pickets. A spokesman said the dispute was "solely concerned with ILDA's ongoing agenda of gaining legitimacy as a trade union, despite a High Court ruling that ILDA cannot lawfully represent locomotive drivers".
SIPTU and NBRU train drivers were "happy" with the five-day week, £29,500 per year and 46-hour working week, according to the unions' statement to members, which denied there was a safety issue making it unworkable. "Our members, totalling 245 out of a workforce of 350, are passing ILDA pickets every day. Those members of both SIPTU and NBRU have informed us that if in any resolution of this, changes occur in the new deal, they themselves will engage in picketing."
Mr Ogle accepted people were "greatly inconvenienced" by the current dispute but said the 110 members of his union still in dispute had "lost patience" and the ILDA leadership had nothing positive to offer them.
Train services all over the State have been seriously curtailed during the dispute, which enters its 48th day. However, the placing of secondary pickets marks an escalation in the dispute. Iarnrod Eireann last night confirmed that services today would again be limited along five major routes.