Industrial Disputes

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 20 April 2016

Wednesday, 20 April 2016

Questions (532, 533)

Bríd Smith

Question:

532. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport why the current contract between Transdev Ireland and Transport Infrastructure Ireland, previously Railway Procurement Agency, did not contain any provision for a new wage agreement with the Luas workforce; if he and Transport Infrastructure Ireland were aware at the time of the awarding of this contract that Luas workers like most of the country’s workers had not had a wage increase in many years and had in fact being seeking negotiations with Transdev over pay and conditions. [7801/16]

Bríd Smith

Question:

533. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he is aware or concerned that while Transdev ignored the attempts of their workers to negotiate such a claim, that the State's agencies, both Transport Infrastructure Ireland and the National Transport Authority, were deciding to award the Luas contract to Transdev; given this, his views that claims by him and the agencies that they have no role in this dispute are spurious and that the awarding of this contract was premised on effectively freezing out the workers who operate the system and excluding them for advancing legitimate attempts to improve their pay and conditions. [7802/16]

Written answers

Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport

I propose to take Questions Nos. 532 and 533 together.

As Minister, I have no function in relation to either the employment of Transdev staff or their terms and conditions of employment.  Nor does NTA or TII have any  employment relationship with those workers.  They are employees of Transdev, which is a private company. The current dispute is between employees, as represented by SIPTU, and their employer, Transdev. It is up to those two parties  to reach a resolution with each other.

As the issues raised  by the Deputy are relevant to the public procurement and contractual arrangments with Transdev, which are the responsibility of  the National Transport Authority in conjunction with Transport Infrastructure Ireland, I have forwarded the Deputy's questions to the National Transport Authority for direct reply.  Please advise my private office if you do not receive a response within ten working days.