Quote:
Originally Posted by James Howard
It is going to be interesting to see the reaction to this. I am surprised at Transdev's approach. I would have expected them to take the same approach as the last Irish Rail strike where any journeys started before stopping time had to be finished before anyone went back to depot. That would have been enough to take the teeth out of a 6PM stop.
Transdev's approach is high-risk and I can see it causing more disruption than the planned stoppage but perhaps the shift-change arrangements make it a moot point anyway.
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They only have two options to respond:
1 - Call off the 4 days and issue new 24/48 hour strikes with 3 weeks notice
2 - Work for free and strike for the 4 hours
They cannot do anything else and if they call it off it will be an embarrassment to them and SIPTU however I'm not sure they will work either.
The response to the above will be important as it will test drivers and the union as if they call it off they showing they are coming under financial pressure. As one of the Stuarts said last we "we are not moving on this", well we will find out on Friday how committed they are!
The approach is high risk but also high reward, I must say I would of expected the 10% cut to be increased and not this but Transdev are not messing around. They are making SIPTU look pathetic and they are out at sea as nobody has ever stood up to them like TD in a long time if at all.
I fully expect Transdev will also ensure trams run until 17.59 if they go ahead, they would be stupid not to
I don't think the latest action will be enough for SIPTU to sanction an all out vote however I think that if it continues jobs will be next and it may happen then.
Transdev will stick it out and with them bidding for bus routes as well they do seem committed to Ireland. Think the costs would need to exceed well over a million before they consider the position.
It has made the NBRU pipe up again today ahead of their meetings with Irish Rail tomorrow. Something tells me we won't be seeing anything less than 24h stoppages if they happen within IE again.