Speed van workers to stage three-day work stoppage during October Bank Holiday

SPEED VAN operators will stage a three-day work stoppage during the October Bank Holiday weekend, Siptu has announced this Wednesday evening. 

This follows a dispute relating to working conditions and union recognition at the company. 

The 72-hour work stoppage by national speed camera van operator GoSafe from Saturday, October 26 at 9am. 

This follows a one-day stoppage on September 28.  

Siptu organiser, Brendan Carr said that its members "have been left with no option" other than to escalate the dispute to a three-day work stoppage. 

He said that they will be implementing industrial action in the form of refusing to operate a tracking system that monitors their work activity. 

“Our members are only taking this action as a last resort because of the intransigence of management which has refused to address their concerns relating to health and safety and their conditions of employment.

“These workers have attempted to address these problems through the State industrial relations mechanisms. The Labour Court has issued a recommendation saying that GoSafe should recognise SIPTU as the representative of its employees who are union members, but this has been completely ignored by management.”

He added: “This dispute highlights the unacceptable practice of government departments issuing contracts for state services to companies who refuse to engage with the industrial relations bodies of the State. In this case, the Department of Justice and the Garda,  which are also responsible for road safety, agreed this contract with a company which imposes inhumane working conditions on its employees. The department and the Garda are also in breach of the Public Service Stability Agreement in relation to the outsourcing of work to companies which do not adhere to the State’s industrial relation procedures.”