Cork train drivers at it again!

run_Forrest_run

Dublin - Cork trains and Cobh and Mallow services canceled. One driver refused to drive his train because he was asked to move a train to facilitate driver training.

Only in this pathetic little country can a small bunch of constantly disgruntled workers hold the rail network to the south to ransom.

bill_ashmount

Bunch of cu*ts the lot of them.
Wish they all got sacked.

run_Forrest_run

bill_ashmount wrote: »

Bunch of cu*ts the lot of them.
Wish they all got sacked.

totally agree with you. Thing is, I'm sure there are some decent hard working lads in there who aren't afraid of progress and facilitate driver training but there's a few thick yobs in there who know they would never survive outside Irish Rail and they are doing their best to strangle progress and don't want young drivers coming on the scene to threaten their cosy number.

Fire em and watch them change their tune then.

deRanged

There are plenty of decent characters there but there's also far too many useless tools.
Fire the lot, hire back the decent ones and run a proper company.

bill_ashmount

run_Forrest_run wrote: »

totally agree with you. Thing is, I'm sure there are some decent hard working lads in there

Absolutely, it just annoys me when the others hold the country to ransom.
How can that driver refuse??? Has he any pride in who he is. I'd be embarrased to strike over that. I'm often asked to do things outside my job description or even work weekends. I just do it.

shnaek

Hence the reason I use my car!

E92

Posted this in Commuting and Transport:

E92 wrote: »

They don't know how good they have it their cushy state owned monopoly jobs with NO incentive to do better for the consumer.

They should sack the lot of drivers in Cork. This is far from the first time Cork drivers have just decided to not arse themselves into doing what us taxpayers are PAYING them to do.

Absolutely disgraceful behaviour by Cork drivers yet AGAIN:mad:!

BanzaiBk

So frustrating! The whole operation needs to be overhauled.

Victor

bill_ashmount wrote: »

Wish they all got sacked.

Who would drive the trains then? It takes a year to train a train driver. And even foreign drivers would have a long lead in time to familiarise themselves with the trains, equipment and routes - stopping a train means easing off the accelerator a few km before the stop.

run_Forrest_run wrote: »

Dublin - Cork trains and Cobh and Mallow services canceled. One driver refused to drive his train because he was asked to move a train to facilitate driver training.

I don't know what has happened today, but the previous problems have been (a) not enough drivers (b) drivers being trained on the new trains reducing the number of drivers available for other duties (c) not enough drivers to cover sick leave, which means if a driver is sick, there is nobody to cover (d) inadequate and late information from Irish Rail. Following a previous situation where driver were working unsafe hours (overly long hours with sometimes weeks between days off), it was agreed that drivers didn't have to work their days off. So they aren't.

Only in this pathetic little country can a small bunch of constantly disgruntled workers hold the rail network to the south to ransom.

I think a lot of the blame lies with Irish Rail, more so than the drivers.

who_ru

well thats great news, had planned on going to see bruce springsteen in the rds tomorrow nite, been looking foward to it for ages and now this.

every strike in ireland is in the public sector - why? coz that coward bertie ahern always gave them what they wanted, he always wanted them onside and hence benchmarking...economic lunacy but we taxpayers pay...and so they feel that there are no consequences for them by their actions so they strike when they want to...all strike are now public sector. SICK OF THIS COUNTRY!!!!!!!!

who_ru

who_ru wrote: »

well thats great news, had planned on going to see bruce springsteen in the rds tomorrow nite, been looking foward to it for ages and now this.

every strike in ireland is in the public sector - why? coz that coward bertie ahern always gave them what they wanted, he always wanted them onside and hence benchmarking...economic lunacy but we taxpayers pay...and so they feel that there are no consequences for them by their actions so they strike when they want to...all strike are now public sector. SICK OF THIS COUNTRY!!!!!!!!

written in a fit of rage at being put out by this dispute - i understand that there are two side to every dispute and it's not just drivers at fault i'm 100% sure management are at fault too (lets face it it's ireland and bullyboy management here isn't an alien concept) - i hear safety concerns are an issue and if so then they must be addressed. still totally pi**ed off by the whole thing though - always joe public getting it in the neck.

Agamemnon

BOLLOCKS to this! I'm in Dublin at the moment and am supposed to be getting the train back to Cork tomorrow. Seeing as I couldn't get a ticket for Cardiff, I had at least hoped to watch the Heineken Cup final on Munster soil. I really don't fancy 4 and a half hours on a bus. The buses will probably be jammed anyway. Hopefully there might be a few later train services running.

shnaek

This train drivers strike is caused by the same mentality that the porter had in Limerick when he refused to wheel a sick woman on a trolley. The unionised public service do not do a tap outside strictly defined work descriptions. Flexibility? You'd have more flexibility in an iron bar.
Why else do you think the gardai still take out a notepad when you go in to report a mugging? How much do you think it'd cost in pay rises to get them to use computers, when computers would make their job easier and more efficient? We might actually have real crime stats.
How much do you think train drivers were paid to drive the new trains? They need an increase in pay for every little thing.
If we had that attitude in the private sector then there would have never been a celtic tiger.
Like an earlier poster said - it's time for people to take a it of pride in their work.

craichoe

Didnt they go on strike becuase of the new trains, they wanted pay increases as they were carrying more people !!

Lunacy !!

Its this union bullshít more than anything else that causes it.

le_dazzler

run_Forrest_run wrote: »

Dublin - Cork trains and Cobh and Mallow services canceled. One driver refused to drive his train because he was asked to move a train to facilitate driver training.

This is pathetic ... no doubt another healthy payrise will be needed to persuade the train driver to actually drive his train.

Stark

Victor wrote: »

I don't know what has happened today, but the previous problems have been (a) not enough drivers (b) drivers being trained on the new trains reducing the number of drivers available for other duties (c) not enough drivers to cover sick leave, which means if a driver is sick, there is nobody to cover (d) inadequate and late information from Irish Rail. Following a previous situation where driver were working unsafe hours (overly long hours with sometimes weeks between days off), it was agreed that drivers didn't have to work their days off. So they aren't.

If the problems are not enough drivers and unsafe working hours then you would think it would be in the existing drivers' interest to facilitate training new drivers. From what I've heard about the incident, the driver in question was on the roster for shunting trains and was asked to do a round trip to Mallow (so a trainee driver could shadow him) and threw a strop because that's not what he was scheduled to do that hour. They're asking for new drivers but they're standing in the way of actually getting them. You can't have things every way.

run_Forrest_run

could U imagine if private sector companies in IT (like the one I work in) went on strike every time a person was asked to do something outside their normal remit!! It would be safe to say not a line of code would be written from one month to the next!

I would say sack the wasters but sure then other unions would take sympathy and the whole country would grind to a halt because we are locked into dependency on these useless wasters by our equally useless Government.

Carrigman

Stark wrote: »

From what I've heard about the incident, the driver in question was on the roster for shunting trains and was asked to do a round trip to Mallow (so a trainee driver could shadow him) and threw a strop because that's not what he was scheduled to do that hour.

Assuming that this is correct, and given the parlous state of industrial relations in Iarnrod Eireann, the supervisor/manager who gave the instruction for the driver to go to Mallow with the trainee must have known that there was a high likelihood that the driver would refuse. So why do it? Was it sheer bloody-mindedness, a desire to show who was "boss"? Given the weekend that was in it, with Springsteen in the RDS and many other people flying out of Dublin for the Munster match, why indulge in brinkmanship for the sake of a non-urgent trainee driver's job-shadowing exercise? Thousands of people's travelling arrangements are in chaos because of this nonsense.

The Union are bad but if anything the management are worse. They appear to have failed to put in place a workable union/management partnership arrangement such as is in place in the ESB for instance (where there has not been a strike for years). Provocation rather than dialogue appears to be their modus operandi. In this case they will have known that taking the driver off the payroll could have only one outcome - an escalating strike inconveniencing thousands. I for one therefore treat with contempt their apology to the public in the media today. They are as much responsible for the mess as SIPTU who, if there *is* an agreement whereby the driver should have done what was asked of him, should be held legally responsible for the failure of their member to abide by the rules and they should be faced with a hefty fine as a result.

Stark

Carrigman wrote:

Assuming that this is correct, and given the parlous state of industrial relations in Iarnrod Eireann, the supervisor/manager who gave the instruction for the driver to go to Mallow with the trainee must have known that there was a high likelihood that the driver would refuse. So why do it?

Because in the standard employment model, an employer gives an employee money to do what the employer wants as opposed to what the employee wants. There wouldn't be much point in paying the employee otherwise. If someone isn't going to work for you, why keep them on the payroll? Oh wait, they didn't and look what happened. Half the work force takes a few days off out of "sympathy".

Carrigman wrote:

So why do it? Was it sheer bloody-mindedness, a desire to show who was "boss"? Given the weekend that was in it, with Springsteen in the RDS and many other people flying out of Dublin for the Munster match, why indulge in brinkmanship for the sake of a non-urgent trainee driver's job-shadowing exercise? Thousands of people's travelling arrangements are in chaos because of this nonsense.

How is it the management's fault if the drivers decide to down tools because they feel like it? Asking someone to do their job is hardly too much to ask. The bloody mindedness is on the part of the drivers who probably didn't want to see new drivers trained in, in case they rocked the boat and yet will still complain when there aren't enough drivers to share the work.

This is all complete public sector union bull****. We the public and Iarnród Éireann management should be able to expect a reasonable standard of work from these people without them holding us to ransom.

Johnnio13

Its not just Cork that is affected!!!!
Trains to Galway aren't running!! How the Cork line affects the trains to Galway I have no idea.
But as a previous poster wrote "if this was anywhere else we would be sacked"!! Forking Unions make my blood boil - the 1000's of people the stroppy little bollix is inconvienencing and he is allowed get away with it!! I would love to give him a good kickin'. Its like a 3rd world country!

Aghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!! So fed up with "Irish Public Transport"

kayhill

Carrigman wrote: »

The Union are bad but if anything the management are worse. They appear to have failed to put in place a workable union/management partnership arrangement such as is in place in the ESB for instance (where there has not been a strike for years). Provocation rather than dialogue appears to be their modus operandi. In this case they will have known that taking the driver off the payroll could have only one outcome - an escalating strike inconveniencing thousands. I for one therefore treat with contempt their apology to the public in the media today.

The end result of the workable union/management partnership agreement in the EBS is workers who are on average paid considerably more than their european counterparts, and as a result you paying higher bills that you would otherwise have to.

Regarding the apology, do you expect to get anything similar from the Unions involved, or the drivers? Do you expect the unions to allow these drivers to be disciplined in anyway, even though it was unofficial action? Private sector workers need to start getting angry about the blatent abuse of position by the public sector.

String

There was someone on red fm cork this morning that he would be missing a wedding he was meant to be a best man over it. Such a disgrace, a warning would of been nice

RoundyMooney

kayhill wrote: »

The end result of the workable union/management partnership agreement in the EBS is workers who are on average paid considerably more than their european counterparts, and as a result you paying higher bills that you would otherwise have to.

That's pants I'm afraid.

The reason your electricity bill is what it is, is down to the Energy Regulator.

The media may have you believe that every ESB employee gets a hundred grand a year. That's pants too. Euro for euro, they may get more than their European equivalents in some cases, but so do burger flippers in MacDonalds, construction workers etc.,

Otherwise many of our new friends would never have left Krakow or Zakopane.

But yeah, IE. Boo-urns. Makes a mockery of their slogan "We're not there yet, but we're getting there". It's as bad as BL in the 70s.

craichoe

DrMorphine wrote: »

There was someone on red fm cork this morning that he would be missing a wedding he was meant to be a best man over it. Such a disgrace, a warning would of been nice

Thats rubbish, he should have been there the day before the bloody wedding.. what a frikkin tulip.
If it was a flight .. then fair enough .. but he could have gotten a bus instead ffs.

Ludo

Carrigman wrote: »

Assuming that this is correct, and given the parlous state of industrial relations in Iarnrod Eireann, the supervisor/manager who gave the instruction for the driver to go to Mallow with the trainee must have known that there was a high likelihood that the driver would refuse. So why do it? Was it sheer bloody-mindedness, a desire to show who was "boss"? Given the weekend that was in it, with Springsteen in the RDS and many other people flying out of Dublin for the Munster match, why indulge in brinkmanship for the sake of a non-urgent trainee driver's job-shadowing exercise? Thousands of people's travelling arrangements are in chaos because of this nonsense.

And this is the exact attitude that leads to the kind of crap that you get in CIE. Are you seriously saying that a manager should not ask a train driver to do this in case of a strike? Crazy talk. These idiots in CIE have had it too good for too long. As someone suggested where I work today, CIE should hire a load of new train drivers, send them off abroad to train them up. When they are ready to replace the existing train divers...FIRE their sorry asses. Pity that would result in a complete shutdown of all public sector workers in the country but something needs to be done with these arsewipes who refuse to do their jobs.

My father is retired CIE...worked in the train station in Cork for donkeys years (not management by any means) and he has shag all respect for a lot of them there coz of their attitude.

Fast_Mover

Ughhhh..had to get the bus home to Cork from Limerick this afternoon, the queue!
Not everybody got on and so they had to wait for an hour till the next one.
You'd think they'd have another bus running to facilitate the large amount of people, but no.

I got on...phewww!:cool:

nesf

Victor wrote: »

I think a lot of the blame lies with Irish Rail, more so than the drivers.

Six of one, half a dozen of the other but the underlying fact in this case is that this is unoffical action by people who provide a public service. Wildcat strikes are a very bad thing in the public services, if anything the drivers should be bloody punished for reacting in this way. If it was done through the proper channels I'd have some bit of sympathy for them but seriously, this kind of behaviour by public sector unions needs to be strongly discouraged, up to and including the use of draconian means to enforce the use of proper channels for labour disputes, it is not like we lack them or lack plenty of legislation upholding the right for workers to use them.

AFC_1903

If they'd at least tell us fit's going on. I tried calling the station (again) this morning and they wouldn't even answer it. I'd have been quite happy to be told "No trains today - f*** off!" then hung up on! Is a voicemail too much to ask for?
I'm having to rely on the wee yellow news bar at the bottom of the screen on TV3's breakfast show - far from ideal............