Quote:
Originally Posted by MrX
Well all it says to me is that as an organisation (workers and management) Iarnrod Eireann doesn't give a toss about the travelling public it's paying customers and the tax payers who bankroll its modernisation. Any organisation that could cause that amount of disruption over a petty squabble really ought to be considering why it shouldn't be disbanded.
I also think this walking off the job over fairly minor issues is actually undermining the ability of the real trade unions to use strike action as a last resort in a genuinely abusive situation. There are many other ways of resolving such disputes without resorting to removing people from the payroll and without shutting down half the country!
It seems to me both the drivers and managers are fond of fighting and confrontation.
Frankly, I think that if a manager does something that confrontational he/she ought to be fired and if a worker goes out of their way to cause a massively disruptive strike and won't use normal industrial relations machinery they ought to be fired too!
This whole dispute has cost a fortune to the tax payer, to businesses and caused a huge amount of distruption.
I think it's time for a root and branch reform of CIE from the top down and the bottom up.
It's clearly a dysfunctional organisation ! Something needs to be done to cure this illness!
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Hear hear!!!
Problem is what? Unlike some of the more fancifull internet warriors we know we cant call in army engineers, sack drivers en masse, and we know you cant remove managment.
Plain fact of the matter is that the railways would run perfectly happily if there were no passengers. Just imagine empty trains running from a-b all the time. Even then they'd be late.
Funnilly enough, it is my opinion that bringing in well intentioned and able managment with vision from the UK which has caused all of this. Long-terms posters will know of my admiration for Bob Montgomery and what he did with Dublin bus all of 20 years ago. There were similar people, ex-BR, in IE and they were the ones who envisaged the new network we're getting. The problem is that they are not the men who have to deal with the local disputes. No matter what you think about Cork drivers, there were in place localised agreements. Someone decided to break it.
Sadly, in the end, some managers will feel hard done by in this. They will be out for revenge. Perhaps the new influx of drivers will change hard line attitudes. Perhaps, with adequate staffing, there will be no need for massive flexibility and then no need for issues like this to arise as everyone will have clearly defined jobs and duties. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps, as the song goes.
As I have said before, and as anyone who watches these things can realise, this all is due to IE imposing a very good timetable from our point of view but with nowhere near the resources to do it. That is why there is a need for massive flexibilities, you see.
Dont forget that the 22K's havent even started rolling out of Cork yet.....