‘sup?
This afternoon.
Siptu members (including Maltese Terrie ‘Lemmy’, above) and Luas drivers picket the Red Cow Luas depot in their ongoing dispute with Transdev.
Meanwhile
The National Transport Authority has fined Transdev €1m for failing to deliver the service. The net cost to the company is €400,000.
RTÉ has asked the NTA at what point Transdev’s failure to deliver the service would lead to it losing the contract, rather than just being fined. A response is awaited.
A spokesperson for Minister for Transport Paschal Donohoe this afternoon said: “It is up to both sides to work together to narrow their differences and find a resolution to this dispute, which continues to negatively impact commuters.”
Eight strike days expected at Luas next month (RTÉ)
Earlier: The Tracks Of Our Tears
Only the 8 days of strikes next month i see. Glad to see this isn’t escalating. A measly 18% pay increase is only for the skilled professions.
There is the possibility of an all out strike. This has been repeatedly mentioned by the unions and reported by the media.
Yes, and all out strike because a 18% pay hike was not deemed adequate.
Yep. Your point?
That it seems a bit mad Ted
18% of 30k .. a whopping 5.4k
Before taxes too..
And cummulatively over 5 years. The greedy fuppers. The poor Transdev and Veolia CEO’s kids will go hungry.
who gets paid 30k? After induction period, minimum driver pay is 36k.
lol @ ahjayzis
@Owen.. add on 18% of 6k then ( over 5 years) minus taxes of courses, at the higher rate
Siptu there, properly representing true irishness; stubborn workshy illits with a deeply ingrained sense of entitlement masquerading as some horse manure “fair play”.
“illits”
What’s that? Are you suggesting they are illegal immigrants?
I think the suggestion is that they rarely had cause to refill their pens after prep.
Sack each & every one of the drivers. Greedy wasters. Their claim might be justified if it was a skilled job or required a reasonable degree of education. Many of those drivers took the job because they fit for no other.
You are a nasty individual.
Truth – nasty or not.
I second that.
“because they fit for no other.”
You were badly reared. Your parents didn’t do a good job with you.
Transdev are doing the Governments work here standing up to the unions. The whole public service will be on the new Governments doorstep by July with the hand out for the “recovery” money that isn’t there. Transdev are Thatchers Wapping!
Spot on. That’s what’s happening. We should all support the Luas Drivers. If we don’t, it’ll be our wages next.
What will happen to our wages next?
They put the local pub landlord’s children through school.
Why? Are you a public servant?
Whoop let’s all join the race to the bottom!
except the public service obviously. nicely cosy on their immovable perch.
A guard on 23,000pa drove past me in his Lambo today. The greedy pig.
Must have got it from his mot, the teacher on 23k. A right Lady Muck.
SIPTU must be embarrassed to be defending these pay claims. I heard a University Head yesterday on RTE announcing that the graduate recruitment market has improved so much that 60% of ICT graduates can now start on €29k. Why did they bother?
There are 172 tram drivers in the entire country. How many people work or are qualified in IT?
How long does it take to train a tram driver?
Sooooo….pay is directly weighted by how long you trained for? Alright so.
It’s why architects are all multi trillionaires.
Personally it looks like a dull, repetitive job – I’d want decent money for it.
I don’t tend to jump immediately on the side of a multinational corporation with billions in revenue over the workers on what aren’t insane wages in a city like Dublin.
It should definitely be a factor. A company investing in you for extended time would pay higher to keep you on staff, rather than you use your training for another company.
But it takes just 6 weeks to train these guys. And the only qualification requires is a clean drivers license. The tram drivers can always head off and apply their tram driving skills for the competition… oh, wait.
“Personally it looks like a dull, repetitive job – I’d want decent money for it.”
That, the unsociable hours, the red line. It’s not a nice job but it needs to be done and anyone doing it deserves a reasonable standard of living. 45k a year works out at 670 a week roughly assuming a pension contribution of 5%. That’s not a huge amount in Dublin, especially if you have children. Maybe the people lamenting their career choice because of cushy the drivers have it should just shut up and actually apply to be a driver?
Also thats 670 a week in 5 years. Who knows what the cost of living will be then.
Over paid
In Irish Punts or Pound Sterling who knows?
They could live around the Red Cow, its cheaper out there and they get a free lift home on the Light Urban Area . Simples
How quick can they :a train(hehe) b: acquire 172 new tram drivers….?
It’s a crazy day when €32k or so starting salary is deemed a poverty wage….. Crazy….
Glad nobody deemed it that so.
It’s part of their argument….
No it’s not. The company is making more money and expanding the service by something like 30% so as to make more money. The drivers would like some of that money they help to generate.
Why are you so upset the CEO will be taking home more millions in yours and everyone else’s fares? It used to be a convention that when a company expands and increases revenue the workers share in the gain.
Yeah because everyone company hands their profits to their employees in proportion to the amount they make.
Are you joking? I can’t tell.
“Yeah because everyone company hands their profits to their employees in proportion to the amount they make.”
How can you argue with this ? Profits only go to the top, that’s the way of things… is that the gist of it?
Watch this please..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8swuwO_E8U
Just take an hour or so out of your life and educate yourself as to what’s going on.
I can’t find the full documentary – Ireland’s Great Wealth Divide, that David McWilliams did. RTE list it on their player, but it’s no longer available. You can watch a clip of this goon who worked for NAMA for a period and went on to make a killing..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEf9sZnpZUQ
Massive transfer of wealth Mcwilliams calls it.
A little transfer back to the workers is ok IMO.. I don’t care if you only earn 25k and you have a masters.
You’re well-named at least.
+1
best for the public to retender the contract at this stage. transdev prob want out. be interesting to see what pay would be offered to existing drivers by a new operator and also what contract conditions would be added for increased schedule and the metro service.
How much profit does Transdev aka Veolia make on running the concession
per year since they can risk a fine and the loss of many days revenue.
There needs to be in depth look at the running of this operation, is it another
example similar to the toll roads and toll bridges fiasco/
Looks more like a Bichon Frise puppy than a Maltese…. In all fairness.
So if they lose the contract…..all of these drivers will be out of a job?
Have a think about this. Under the original SIPTU pay claim, they wanted a driver, after 52 week induction period, to be on a base salary of €41,895 (plus bonus) as at Jan 1 2017. What other jobs in this country would offer this sort of rate of pay for a junior staff member requiring minimal training? Does this seem like a reasonable pay claim to start negotiations with?
Seems like SIPTU won’t go for the nuclear option of all-out strike, Instead, they’re going to continue with the flea-in-the-ear low level disruption for the foreseeable. So after 10 weeks of ground-hog day news coverage on the formation of a government now seemingly coming to an end – for good or for ill – I fear that we’ll all be subjected to another 10 weeks of Paschal Bloody Donohoe or his replacement droning on “It’s up to both sides to work this out….zzz”
They’re asking for too much money for the job they do. Simple.