A row is brewing within CIÉ over a plan by Iarnród Éireann to contract out part of its track maintenance operation.
Two SIPTU worker-directors claim the CIÉ and Iarnród boards have been kept in the dark about the proposal and that it is the start of a privatisation process.
An Iarnród Éireann spokesman, however, said the proposal had come from a group of workers and discussions were still at an early stage.
The row centres on tamping and other work carried out by 29 machine operators employed in Iarnród's track maintenance section. Tamping involves the settling and compacting of track beds.
Management and the workers concerned have failed to reach agreement in productivity talks which have been taking place for some time as part of a company-wide process.
In a statement issued yesterday, two CIÉ worker-directors, Mr Bill McCamley and Mr Paul Cullen, said they had "solid information" that the tamping work was to be contracted out.
They said a private company called Newco Track Maintenance Ltd had been set up to do the work normally carried out by Irish Rail staff.
They also claimed two "hugely expensive" machines, "paid for by the taxpayer", were to be given to this company. A CIÉ source denied this and said the machines would be paid for if the proposal was implemented.
Mr Cullen told The Irish Times that about 10 of the 29 staff concerned were seeking voluntary severance from Irish Rail, with a view to joining the new company.
The 10 were being offered significantly better pay and conditions than were available at Irish Rail, he said, which raised the question of how contracting out the work could be cost effective.
He said the proposal had been referred to, but not in any detail, at a recent board meeting of Iarnród Éireann, while it had not been discussed at all by the board of CIÉ. He and Mr McCamley would be seeking explanations at the next CIÉ board meeting on March 25th, he said.
However, an Irish Rail spokesman, Mr Barry Kenny, said the matter had not been brought to the CIÉ board's attention "because there is no proposal to bring to the CIÉ board at this stage."
He said a group of the track maintenance machine operators had approached management with a suggestion that the work could be carried out on a contracted basis.
Irish Rail was interested in pursuing any option that would increase productivity and had entered discussions with the workers concerned.
However, it would also be placing a notice in the EU Journal shortly seeking expressions of interest in the work.
It remained possible, however, that agreement would be reached with the 29 staff which would see the work continuing to be carried out by Iarnród Éireann staff.
