CIE management to blame for dispute
Joyce seemed to be saying that O'Rourke should wash her hands of
CIE and leave the unelected bureaucrats in charge of the company
| |
awful lot of predictions were made this week about the effects
of the one day unofficial stoppage by Iarnród Eireann train
drivers. It would create traffic chaos, we were told, but it
didn't. It would cost Dublin retailers £800,000 in lost sales,
but isn't it a more realistic proposition that most people would
put off their shopping until another day?
The strike was supposedly a return to the ``bad old days''. It was,
according to CIE chairperson Brian Joyce, ``something that needs
to be relegated to the past''. Absent from the media and political
comment on the strike was the story of what really happened this
week.
Economic Power
300 workers, having felt that they had been pushed one step too
far, exercised their economic power. Tens of thousands of people
in Dublin were able to reschedule their day, get lifts or simply
stay at home. The intent of the train drivers' strike was to show
that if such a stoppage happened day after day the economic
consequences would be far more serious.
There was also very little real comment on what were the chain of
events that led to Tuesday's day of industrial of action. Workers
at Iarnród Eireann have been in negotiations with management for
over two years on the implementation of a viability plan for the
company.
From the first day that viability plans were proposed by CIE
management the process has been unnecessarily combative. The
negotiations opened with a set of management demands that workers
would effectively accept their proposals without negotiations.
Coercion and Bullying
As a result of such attitudes CIE management in 1996 found itself
in conflict with workers at Bus Ath Cliath, Bus Eireann and
finally Iarnród Eireann. To compound matters Iarnród Eireann
decided not to pay the final part of an agreed wage increase,
pushing rail workers to ballot for strike action.
For the intervening two years management at CIE and its
subsidiary Iarnród Eireann have attempted to coerce and bully
their workers into accepting new working conditions that would
leave the CIE employees effectively worse off.
The appointment of Mary O'Rourke as Public Enterprise minister
was a small positive first step. O'Rourke forced CIE management
to stop pushing their workers towards industrial action. The
stoppage this week arose from a dissatisfaction with management
attitudes in the negotiating process and the public comments of
CIE chairperson Brian Joyce.
Incensed
Joyce called on Mary O'Rourke to give an ``unequivocal and
unambivalent statement'' that she would not ``be a party to the
negotiation, conciliation and arbitration process'' in CIE.
Joyce seemed to be saying that O'Rourke should wash her hands of
CIE and leave the unelected bureaucrats in charge of the company.
CIE workers were incensed at Joyce's comments and this is what
led to Tuesday's stoppage.
At the heart of the deliberations is the desire of train drivers
to get a decent wage. Much has been made of the fact that drivers
can earn over £28,000 a year. The little detail that they have to
put in over 48 hours work, doing seven days a week to get this
money has been overlooked.
Peter Bunting, General Secretary of the National Bus and
Railworkers Union, told An Phoblacht that he wanted talks to
restart. There were, he said, 12 major areas of contention to be
resolved. He hoped that ``the lessons of Tuesday's stoppage had
sunk in'' and that the events would change the ``mindset of
management''.
Earlier in the week Bunting said: ``In the end of the day we can
only solve things by sitting down around the table''. In order for
this to happen the Dublin Government must play its role and
participate in the negotiations.
If Brian Joyce cannot face up to this he should consider his
position and leave CIE. Unelected officials should not be able to
dictate terms to elected public representatives.
Fight the power
Privatisation is a bad idea in any industry. Back door
privatisation is even worse.
| |
A time of crisis or of opportunity - which of these describes the
current situation in Ireland's electricity market?
In the 26 Counties you have the state-owned ESB under pressure
from the Dublin Government and the EU who want to privatise the
company.
In the Six Counties you have Viridian, the private sector owners
of Northern Ireland Electricity, a hugely profitable company that
produces some of the most expensive electricity for consumers in
Britain or Ireland.
In the last week it has been announced that an electricity
interconnector is to be constructed between the Six Counties and
Britain. Sinn Féin has opposed the interconnector on the basis
that it could mean electricity generated by nuclear power being
distributed on the Irish grid.
However the Dublin Government seems unconcerned at these
consequences or at the fact that British electricity producers
could use the connector to gain access to the Irish market and
undermine the position of Irish electricity producers.
The British producers, because of their greater size compared to
ESB, can create electricity more cheaply. But this does not mean
that the consumers would win out.
The situation in the Six Counties where Viridian control the
market is a good example of the consequences of electricity
privatisation. Viridian were forced to pay rebates to Six-County
customers because of their high prices.
Low costs give foreign producers the chance to dominate the
market. Once they gain a dominant position prices for consumers
will rise. Last week Viridian announced that they were formally
moving into the 26-County electricity market. They are to build a
power station in North County Dublin. It has also become clear
that the ESB is facing a supply crisis because successive
governments have been dragging their heels on giving the go-ahead
for new power plants.
The Dublin Government cannot give the go-ahead because of the
need to guarantee EU competition. However, it seems that
electricity competition is happening without any input from the
Dublin Government. Control of the state's electricity producing
capacity is vital to the future wellbeing of the state.
Privatisation is a bad idea in any industry. Back door
privatisation is even worse. The Dublin Government must act to
protect the interests of the Irish people.
![[An Phoblacht]](http://republican-news.org/graphics/title_gifs/aprn.gif)