Your crash course in... The Luas pay dispute
All you need to know about the ongoing talks between Transdev and Siptu.
BACK AND FORTH. To and fro. For nearly four months, the war of words between Luas workers and Transdev has rolled on.
What has become Ireland’s most talked-about industrial dispute this year began in December 2015 when the Labour Court recommended that the two parties should enter “realistic and meaningful negotiations” over pay issues.
However, it truly kicked off in January of this year when 221 out of 223 Luas employees voted in favour of industrial action and it was announced drivers attached to the trade union Siptu would strike on four days in February.
Since then, Luas employees also picketed over the Easter weekend, although two days of industrial action were called off in mid-March.
The issue is back in the spotlight today after Luas workers decided on further industrial action in protest at Transdev still not meeting their pay demands at talks held earlier this week.
What do the Luas employees want?
To put it simply, Luas drivers are looking for a pay rise to bring them onto a level pegging with drivers for Irish Rail.
At the moment the starting salary at the company is €32,000 per annum and Siptu want that raised to €35,000. The union also want to increase the top salary a driver can pull after 10 years lifted from €42,000 to €60,000.
These demands have not gone down well with Transdev, which has so far have refused to bow outright to the demands.
Why hasn’t a deal been struck?
Transdev has maintained from the onset that the pay demands are “unrealistic”. The company has said that as it is currently in “a loss making situation”, it cannot consider giving into wage demands that would cost €30 million over five years.
According to the company, it incurred losses of €700,000 in 2015 and has predicted further losses for 2016. Transdev has also refused to back down because it maintains it was very fair to Luas employees when the recession hit.
A statement from the company detailed the exact measures it took during the economic crisis:
“Transdev, unlike many other employers, did not cut pay, freeze pay or change our employees’ terms and conditions. On the contrary Transdev increased pay between the years 2009 and 2015, with increments ranging between 1.25% and 5%. During this period we also reduced average working hours.”
Although it has insisted throughout the saga that the demands from Luas employees were unworkable, Transdev has budged slightly. Last week the company offered pay increases of up to 13% by September 2019 to Luas employees.
All of the non-driver grades of Luas employees voted to accept the deal earlier this week, but the drivers refused the proposal and Transdev accordingly took its offer off the table.
Where does that leave us?
On the face of it, there appears to have been little progress – although last week’s agreement showed there may be light at the end of the proverbial tunnel.
Revenue protection officers, traffic supervisors and revenue protection supervisors have all agreed to a pay deal, but the drivers don’t look likely to budge any time soon.
They are still looking for a 26.5% pay increase with no links to increases in productivity.
Since Transdev would not sign off on that demand from Siptu on Monday, the industrial action went ahead today, with further stoppages scheduled throughout May.
