Train-drivers from two unions have appealed to the breakaway ILDA drivers to return to work.
At a press conference in Dublin, drivers from SIPTU and the NBRU rejected as "deeply insulting" ILDA claims that they were working an unsafe agreement dangerous to the travelling public. They also challenged other assertions made by the ILDA group, which is in its third month of the dispute.
Those at the press conference are members of the group which negotiated the deal the ILDA drivers reject. They appealed to their colleagues to return to work and "see for themselves the benefits of the new deal".
They said an early return to work was imperative if further inconvenience to the public was to be avoided and "to ensure that personal relationships amongst train drivers are not damaged beyond repair". They believed it was now a question of pride for ILDA drivers.
"We've been portrayed as the bad guys," said Mr Brian Wakefield, a driver in Cork. The system was now safer because the drivers had a five-day week with a maximum working time of 46 hours and "not the 48 hours which has been widely said. We feel that our conditions have been enhanced and that it is safer."
Mr Paul Cullen, a Dublin driver, said: "On the old system we were working seven days a week, sometimes up to 60 or 70 hours a week. We have two days off in the week now and up to a max of 46 hours."
Mr Liam Tobin of the NBRU said nobody was required to work seven days. Before they worked an average of seven days and 60 hours. In the interim the locomotive-drivers accepted that services had to be guaranteed and they had to work. In order to get benefits of agreement now rather than wait until 2001, they estimated they would work some of their rest days.
As to the safety aspects of the new agreement, he said: "The deal was validated by 16 experts. I don't accept that this is less safe than working seven days of the week 60 hours a week, every week of the year."
Mr Derek Nolan, another Dublin driver, said there was not a single driver required to work seven days. "The operational people are committed to guaranteeing one rest day for the interim period and, come September 2001, two days. And if the drivers returned the chances would be greater of getting more days off."
He believed it was a "recognition dispute" and nothing at all to do with safety.
Asked about the recriminations if drivers came back, Mr Paul McNally, a Dublin driver, said the drivers working the new deal "are not going to hold anything against them if they return to work".
He said drivers were subjected to abuse by ILDA members with placards saying "Scab" put up in front of them as they drove by. "But that is all in the past. They are our colleagues and we want them to come back to work."
ILDA had rejected the use of part-time drivers. Mr Tony Tobin of SIPTU said they would be selected as any other driver and trained as any other driver.
Mr Ciaran O'Dwyer, a driver in Limerick, welcomed the intervention of the LRC and the Labour Court. He said that despite what Mr Brendan Ogle said about the commission and court not being experts, they could bring in experts in safety to address the issue.
