[PRESS RELEASE] Rail Users Group Condems Unofficial Strike Action By IE Drivers

[Mark Gleeson]

East Coast Radio www.eastcoastradio.tinet.ie 9.20am

Tony O'Donnell of Kildare Rail Users Group has a quote in this mornings Metro

[comcor]

Too many newspaper articles this morning to post them all up, so here are some links...

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ire...RKDRIVERS.html
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ire...COMMUTERS.html
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ire...RAINPANEL.html
http://www.examiner.ie/irishexaminer...546-qqqx=1.asp
http://www.examiner.ie/irishexaminer...527-qqqx=1.asp
http://www.examiner.ie/irishexaminer...528-qqqx=1.asp

[Mark Gleeson]

Cork's 103fm now

[Thomas J Stamp]

Typical, the day this all kicks off (but we were talking about it ovet the weekend) and I wasnt around to rant and rave.

Firstly, well done to Derek for the press release, made more impressive that he was on the gound composing it at the time.

Secondly, this is a classic union tatic. If we dont get what is wanted through the accepted mechanisms some hotheads will go on "unofficial" action, thus absolving us of any problems with the acts. Then again, it is possible that officialy the union (at HQ level anyway) dont want this. I was a past member of a union and would have been a bit of a radical. I was fully convinced that the HQ staff were only interested in getting their feet under the table in Government Buildings and shafting the ordinary members in the process. That could be the view here as well.

Thirdly, I believe that this entire dispute is co-incidently the one on which IE have the best ground of winning public support and this may have led to someone deciding to just go for it.
Think about it, the new Pace/Dunboyne/Navan link WILL result in new work practices, and therefore be much better ground of the unions to fight on. Same goes for the Interconnector: the lines will be electrified, who will drive them? Existing electric drivers? But are they cleared through Heston? Electification of the Maynooth line: electric drivers/change in work patterrns; much better ground for the unions.
This dispute however, is taylor made for managment. It is all about introducing new carraiges. The same loco at one end, the control cabin at the other end is a duplicate so the drivers dont have to do anything different, except press a button to open and close the doors. They do this anyway on the Mk3 push-pulls, so no difference. the guard issue is the one area that is is all about. If IE actually state what they have offerd to them (we know it, it's been posted here already) this could be faced down and in the process clear the way for the further improvments down the line.

Finally, i think we are quite correct in the press release to state that the blame is union and managment. We CANNOT simply blame one side of the other just to curry public support, we have to be objective and impartial, we haver to be 100% for the passangers and I think the press work that Mark and others are putting in reflects this.

[Mark Gleeson]

Last Word, Today FM at 5 pm

East Coast Radio www.eastcoastradio.tinet.ie 5:30pm

Morning Ireland tomorrow if this choas continues

[colmoc]

just heard your slot on Matt Coopers (today fm) show Derek
Well done keep hitting them Platform11 has finally got the media attention that we badly needed. keep up the good work guys

[Derek Wheeler]

We're booked for 7am slot on Ireland AM TV3, if the strike rolls into tomorrow.

Tonight it's Newsbeat on 2FM between 7.30 and 8pm.

Obviously we'd rather not have to be in a position where we are doing this, but thats where this disptute has taken us and the inconvenienced rail users.

[philip]

Jaysus Derek, soon your voice will be more familar than Conor Faughan's!

These 'people' simply must be faced down NOW, long before Sherrif St/Dunboyne/DART extension/Interconnector. Having said that, the boys in Connolly have been well behaved and kept out of this nonsense (this time).

[Mark Gleeson]

Originally Posted by Leinster Leader

Furious commuters slam rail stoppage
By PAULA CAMPBELL and CONOR MCHUGH:
THOUSANDS of furious Kildare commuters were left stranded this week because of the unofficial rail strike by Irish Rail train drivers on Monday and Tuesday.

"No passengers from Naas, Sallins or Hazelhatch got into work by rail on Monday or Tuesday," said Derek Wheeler of Platform 11, Ireland's National Rail User Group, who alleged that Irish Rail knew of the pending strike but failed to keep the public informed.

"Some passengers from Newbridge and Kildare were collected by the 5:30am from Galway, but that was the only train that ran on Monday. There were no buses laid on and the whole affair was a disaster for Irish Rail customers.
"We have condemned the unofficial strike but we are also highly critical of Irish Rail. They failed to manage the situation effectively and there was no customer service to keep people updated on the situation."
Two Kildare women who found themselves in difficulty as a result of the strike, spoke to the Leinster Leader.

Aoife Quinn, who works in Dublin, arrived at Kildare train station on Monday morning to be told that all of the Cork trains were cancelled except for the 7.30 which she was lucky to get at 8.30 am.

"When we got to Heuston were told that the Waterford train was still running." Aoife left work early on Monday to get that train home.

She felt that the strike action was "totally out of order and unexpected". She added that it created a great deal of uncertainty.

Student Emer O'Donnell is currently sitting her exams in DIT Aungier Street. She was lucky that her exam on Monday was at 2.00pm in the afternoon.

When she discovered that morning that there was a problem with the trains she had time to organise a lift with a college friend from Kilcullen.

"I got a text from a friend of mine saying he had got the last train out of Kildare at 7.10am. I didn't know about the strike until then.

"I'm lucky the exam was at 2.00pm, otherwise I would have been dead."
Drivers on all lines from Cork and many in the west stopped work on Monday morning 'in a sympathy protest' with two drivers in Cork who refused to allow the introduction of new inter-city trains. They alleged Irish Rail had not provided sufficient training.
17 May 2006

http://www.leinsterleader.ie/ViewArt...icleID=1507236

[Mark Gleeson]

We now know what did happen on May 15th. We know what left 70,000 stranded

No matter what you have read, no matter what you believe its going to blow you away

[Thomas J Stamp]

So, Mark, what was it? Blow me away!!

[Mark Gleeson]

To clarify the situation with respect to Cork

As it stands as far as we know no Cork driver currently drives a CDE/MK4 train with passengers since the services the train operates are run from Dublin. As far as I know the normal passenger roster does not require staff to spend the night away from home aka the basket job, so unless IE are putting the drivers up overnight its a Dublin driver. The driver of the 9am was standing waiting on the platform at 8:20am for it to be brought in on Monday, the crew of the 5:30 ex Cork as always took the 9:00am back (this is normal practice and often requires a dash across Heuston). Anyway with a new train you always bring it home each night to check it over so it would be Dublin based.

There is still confusion over the situation in Cork as Cork drivers have little trouble driving under test conditions as they are this week and did up until they turned full circle and refused to take the train out on 13/14th May for further familarisation, its seriously hard to work out what is really going on which seems to suit everyone

The 3 hours training story is actually true, given the normal course on other stock has been 2 days there was trouble about it, thats one of the things Phil Flynn had to deal with. Irish Rail conceeded and further training is underway. Undeniable fact is on Friday 19th at 10:40 CDE set 4003 left Cork with a Dublin driver after spending over a week sitting there, we know which hotel he stayed in. That train still had plastic coverings from the factory in place.

There are a number of non driver related issues in Cork as well, all I need to say is the 2 new open air servicing sidings and fueling points they know what I mean, and of course the brake test

It seem completely nuts to say it but I don't personally blame the driver of the 5:30 ex Cork on Monday 15th for not taking the MK4/CDE set out. If you have been following things here over the last week the penny should have dropped by now as to why. There was simply no need for what happened to happen. Someone forced the issue and left 70,000 people stuck and still no refunds!

[sean]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

It seem completely nuts to say it but I don't personally blame the driver of the 5:30 ex Cork on Monday 15th for not taking the MK4/CDE set out.

Huh? How complicated is this?

[Mark Gleeson]

Originally Posted by sean

Huh? How complicated is this?

Extremely, put it this way if the driver took the MK4 set out that 5:30 would have been cancelled or extermely late anyway

[James Shields]

"Passengers are advised that they should remove the plastic wrapping before taking their seats..." (add effect of 201 engine roar in background).

[Mark Hennessy]

Originally Posted by lostcarpark

"Passengers are advised that they should remove the plastic wrapping before taking their seats..." (add effect of 201 engine roar in background).

Sounds like a brand spanking new train-set. Who wouldnt want a spin in one of them

[Mark Gleeson]

The saga continues

We have conflicting reports of who drove on Monday was it a Cork driver?

I was down at platform 8 at 8:20 am, at about 8:23 the CDE set in platform 9 (I know there is no 9th platform) headed out slowly into the yard. At this time there was a driver standing on platform 5 with his bag waiting in the rain beyond the roof, he wasn't still he was moving around as if he was waiting for something. We contend quite reasonably that this was the driver of the 9am Dublin Cork and that he could only be a Dublin driver as the 5:30 ex Cork hadn't arrived until after 8:30 (The Port Loaise commuter arrived at 8:24, that being the train ahead of the 5:30), that driver must have a 20 minute break before another turn can't see it working out.

At 8:33 the CDE set arrived into platform 5, at this stage the queue was just beyond the glass doors. At 8:42 boarding began. The crew of the 5:30 took there seats 8:50-8:55

We have some photos which back it up, there was two drivers in the locomotive and two more staff in the control car

[Thomas J Stamp]

Those servicing pits arent the correct size, I hear, and they have to be adjusted, which strikes me as just really, really, thick.

and the 5.30 lads never drive the 9.00 back, which isnt a surprise. Do they have other duties in Cork during the morning or are they off for the day?

[Mark Gleeson]

The issue in Cork has more to do with the fact its outside and it mainly for fuel, water and the chemical retention tanks, its normal practice, I've got a photo of similar facility at a new depot in the UK and its exactly the same

We can confirm the guard and ticket checker took the 9am back as passengers and the evidence suggests a Dublin driver was in the cab of the locomotive and we can show the driver was aboard before the guard and ticket checker of the 5:30 ex Cork boarded