Train-drivers working the "new deal" at Iarnrod Eireann will hold a press conference in Dublin today to respond to allegations by the ILDA executive about safety.
Working train-drivers will outline their views on the dispute and, according to one representative, they "deeply resent the implication that they would run an unsafe rail service for the public to make more money".
In the dispute which is now in its ninth week, drivers have said that ILDA members have used the train service to get to meetings and they could hardly see it as unsafe if they were using it. Drivers and the company have insisted that rail safety is validated by the leading EU safety experts, Halcrow.
However, ILDA's executive secretary, Mr Brendan Ogle, said the drivers might be offended but "if they are working a 60-hour, seven-day week that is unsafe". Mr Ogle repeated that ILDA workers would return to work if the company would guarantee their drivers 96 rest days a year and a 48-hour, five-day week. "The only safe agreement is a five-day, 48-hour agreement."
He denied that ILDA drivers had rejected the Labour Court/ Labour Relations Commission initiative. "We accepted the initiative but the LRC/Labour Court told us they cannot deal with the safety issues because they are not a body that deals with these issues." They had sought the assistance of the Health and Safety Authority on this, but the HSA could not deal with it.
Mr Ogle claimed that Halcrow validated a five-day week but a seven-day week was in operation. However, SIPTU has said there were drivers operating trains who refused to work more than the five days and it was voluntary. Mr Ogle suggested that Halcrow and the safety expert they had dealt with, Mr P.G. Raynor, could work out the safety issue.
Meanwhile, the company has reiterated its rejection of ILDA's safety concerns. An Iarnrod Eireann spokesman said the "new deal" saw an end to a seven-day, 60-hour week in favour of a five-day, 48-hour week. "It is being safely worked by more than two-thirds of Iarnrod Eireann drivers for the last eight weeks."
The same services which have been running for the past number of days will continue today.
