Labour Court Database __________________________________________________________________________________ File Number: CD87211 Case Number: LCR11269 Section / Act: S67 Parties: IRISH RAIL - and - ICTU;NATE |
Claim on behalf of forty two Dublin suburban senior depotpersons (DART senior depotpersons) for an allowance due to increased duties and responsibilities.
Recommendation:
5. Having considered the submissions made and particularly the
extension in the range of work and responsibility of the Senior
Depot persons concerned in the operation of DART the Court
recommends that the Company grant an increase of #4 per week with
effect from the date of acceptance of this Recommendation.
Division: Mr O'Connell Mr McHenry Mr Devine
Text of Document__________________________________________________________________
CD87211 THE LABOUR COURT LCR11269
CC87444 INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACTS, 1946 TO 1976
RECOMMENDATION NO. LCR11269
PARTIES: IRISH RAIL
AND
RAIL OPERATIVE TRADE UNION GROUP
Subject:
1. Claim on behalf of forty two Dublin suburban senior
depotpersons (DART senior depotpersons) for an allowance due to
increased duties and responsibilities.
Background:
2. In June, 1984, the Group submitted a number of claims on
behalf of the claimants, one of which was for a 30% allowance on
pay rates. The Labour Court, in LCR9923 did not recommend
concession of the claim. During the course of 1985 and 1986, a
number of local level meetings were held to discuss a claim for
the re-grading of these senior depotpersons, but no agreement
could be reached. On the 14th October, 1986, the National
Association of Transport Employees advised the Company that as and
from the 2nd November, 1986, the workers concerned would refuse to
perform the following duties:-
. attend to emergency control panels
. attend to crossing gates
. deal with commuter tickets, DART family tickets, DART
unlimited adult tickets and DART unlimited childrens'
tickets.
. complete period returns.
A further meeting was held between Management and the Trade Union
Group on the 23rd October, when it was agreed to withdraw the
refusal to perform the above-mentioned duties on the basis that
the Group would refer the matter to the conciliation service of
the Labour Court and the Company would agree to attend. A
conciliation conference was held on the 11th February, 1987, but
no agreement was reached and the matter was referred to the Labour
Court for investigation and recommendation. A Court hearing took
place on the 16th April, 1987.
Group's arguments:
3. (a) It is now a condition of employment for the position of
Dublin suburban senior depotpersons that the applicant
must hold a signalpersons certificate. The reason for
this is that in the event of a breakdown in the
signalling system, the workers concerned are required
to operate an emergency control panel, which is in
effect a full signalling system that in the old days
would have been housed in a signal cabin.
(b) The Dublin suburban senior depotperson at Howth
Junction and Bray would be required to manually operate
points referred to as pumping points so that trains can
be pulled into sidings etc., or in the event of failure
of the CTC System. There are crossing gates at the
following locations - Claremount, Sutton, Kilbarrack,
Lansdowne, Sydney Parade, Sandymount and Bray and in
the event of breakdown, these have to be operated
manually.
(c) Trains run every five minutes at rush hour and every
fifteen minutes otherwise. The responsibility that
this places on the claimants is tremendous, given the
volume of rail and public traffic at these times.
(d) Prior to DART, a clerical officer would audit the
tickets and accounts but now this is the responsibility
of the senior depotperson. Where a surplus shows after
audit, no credit accrues which might be offset against
a deficit. Deficits are made up from the depotperson's
wages. There is now an audit of the Day Book, Weekly
Book and Monthly Book.
(e) In 1985, the first full year of operations, the DART
line recorded total passenger journeys of 11.7 million
- an increase of 117% on the pre-DART period. The
projections for the future are 20 million passenger
journeys. Even if there had been no change to the
types of pre-DART tickets, this increase in volume
speaks for itself. Prior to the introduction of DART,
the maximum ticket liability was #7.50. However, there
is now a much greater variety of tickets sold and the
maximum liability is now of between #25 and #60
(details supplied to the Court).
(f) DART offices have now also become public relations
offices, with the claimants having to supply the public
with train times, DART feeder bus times, routes etc.
These queries can be by phone or at the office and do
not take account of whether the station is busy or not.
These workers are the front line public relations staff
of the Company as it is from them that the general
public forms its images of DART.
(g) The workload is such on DART that there is now a
requirement to work a seven day spread of two shifts,
06.30 to 14.30 and 14.00 to 22.00 hours. Whilst these
are paid for by an allowance of one-sixth, nevertheless
the Court must take into account the effect this has on
the claimants family and social life.
(h) Since the introduction of the feeder buses, Dublin City
Bus has been able to reduce the bus services by up to
50% on some routes. This is a big saving to the
Company in that these buses would have been running at
non-peak times and therefore at a substantial loss. As
an example - six buses were taken off the 45 routes and
that means 12 crews and a saving of 24 jobs.
(i) It is worth noting that DART drivers and CTC suburban
signal cabins have received allowances in respect of
their duties despite the fact that there are many other
train drivers and C.T.C. operators. It has been
clearly established that DART is a separate entity and
that claims have been conceded without a "knock on"
effect.
Company's arguments:
4. (i) The feeder buses were introduced at certain Halts,
in order to endeavour to increase the number of
passengers using the DART System, in the interests
of maintaining that service at its existing level.
It is the practice for bus drivers, on these buses,
to issue through tickets, covering both the bus and
the train, and it is the function at the Halt to
check these tickets. However, additional assistance
has been provided at the more important Halts. This
enables tickets to be checked at the barrier without
the necessity for the senior depotperson to leave
his office. In certain cases, the senior
depotperson may have to issue a through ticket, and
the charge is readily available from a chart.
(ii) Since the issue of LCR9923, very few additional
tickets have been introduced. A short, medium, and
long 'hop' ticket has been introduced, and the
senior depotpersons issue the 'short hop' ticket.
Special tickets are issued for race-meetings, and,
on occasions, for attendance at the Gaeity Theatre,
but these arise only very occasionally. Against
this, a one-day ticket has been abolished. The
tickets issued include 10-journey and monthly
tickets, and, while this increases activity,
particularly on Monday mornings, it relieves the
level of overall issue of tickets, compared with
what the case would be if tickets were issued for
each journey. Also, a very considerable number of
these term tickets are sold to passengers in outside
agencies and at the Company's offices in O'Connell
Street.
(iii) In connection with the increase in passenger
journeys, it should be explained that the sale of
10-journey and monthly tickets, by outside agencies,
and at the Company's office at O'Connell Street,
Connolly Station, and Pearse Station, very much
reduced what would be the work-load of the senior
depotpersons at the Halts. Also, the points made,
in relation to the feeder buses, is relevant in this
connection. Previously, due to lack of business,
staff were considerably under-employed, and there is
ample room to deal with a considerable volume of
extra work without undue difficulty. It is also
true that, during the course of the day, there are
slack periods, when the level of activity is very
low at the Halts.
(iv) When the rail operative grading structure was
rationalised, in 1978 / 1979, the old grades of yard
foreman and station working foreman, were
amalgamated into the new grade of senior
depotperson, and placed in the group with guards,
travelling ticket collector, etc., at a common rate
of pay. This provided for a substantial increase in
the basic rate of pay of the order of #8.50 per week
at the time. In the case of station foremen,
including those employed in Dublin suburban
stations, who were re-graded, and received the pay
increase referred to above, there was no change in
their responsibilities. It is the Company's view
that, in the electrified situation, there is no
increase in the responsibilities of the senior
depotpersons concerned which would warrant
re-grading or an additional allowance.
(v) The Group has referred to the increased number of
trains and additional passengers since the
introduction of DART. It was also mentioned that
there were lump sum payments afforded to drivers and
guards on the electrified system, and it was claimed
that senior depotpersons were the only grade which
has not benefited from the electrification suburban
services. The Company contends out that there was
no increase in the basic pay of guards, nor was
there any increase afforded in the case of other
grades, eg., depotpersons, as a consequence of the
electrification of the suburban services. The
additional allowance, paid to locomotive drivers, on
the DART system, was for the operation of trains
without a guard and the acceptance of a confined
link.
(vi) While there is a more intensive service on the DART
line, the increased activity throughout the day is
now shared by two senior depotpersons at each
station; the number of senior depotpersons employed
at the stations, between Howth and Bray, has
increased from 16 in 1975 to 43 at present. The
Company is satisfied that the volume of work, on
each turn of duty, would approximate to a normal
day's work, and that a considerable amount of slack
time, which, of necessity, existed in the old
system, because of the level of service offered, has
been largely taken up in the new situation.
(vii) The increase in pay, under the Rail Operative
Productivity Scheme, of approximately #8.50 per
week, in 1978 / 1979, now amounts to an increase of
#22.72 per week, taking into account increases in
pay since then under the productivity scheme and the
national wage rounds. The Company, therefore,
submits that senior depotpersons' revised rate of
pay, under the productivity scheme, compensates for
any change in their working arrangements due to the
increase in the number of passengers and more
frequent trains. On the other hand, it could be
argued that there has been some reduction in the
responsibilities of some of the senior depotpersons,
arising from the elimination of conventional
signalling and manually operated level crossing
gates, and their substitution by the new electrified
signalling system.
(viii) Concession of this claim could reasonably be
expected to give rise to claims from other staff for
similar increases or higher grading.
(x) The Company's financial position continues to be
very serious. Current overall expenditure on the
railways, is approximately #147m per annum as
against revenue of approximately #65m, leaving a
shortfall of #82m.
RECOMMENDATION:
5. Having considered the submissions made and particularly the
extension in the range of work and responsibility of the Senior
Depot persons concerned in the operation of DART the Court
recommends that the Company grant an increase of #4 per week with
effect from the date of acceptance of this Recommendation.
~
Signed on behalf of the Labour Court.
John O'Connell
______1st___July,___1987. ___________________
D. H. / M. F. Deputy Chairman