Labour Court recommends ballot on integration of four Irish Rail patrol gangers

The Labour Court recommended a ballot to decide whether four patrol gangers in Iarnrod Eireann’s Division 5 should join mobile gangs or remain separate. The recommendation was signed on 23 December 2010. A majority decision should bind the entire department, and the company should give effect to the result. The dispute with the Services Industrial Professional Technical Union concerned how the workers would be integrated. The union said workers willing to join mobile gangs should be allowed to do so and receive the additional payments offered for completing the process. Management said it could accommodate integration only across the whole division, for operational and efficiency reasons.