Fears of strike action increase in row over Luas drivers' lunches

It is understood that more than 90pc of tram drivers have voted to reject a Labour Court recommendation that they should store their lunches in cooler bags.

The court made the proposal to resolve a dispute which arose over how drivers on the recent cross-city extension of the Green Line take their meal breaks.

The row erupted because the drivers' rosters meant they had to take breaks at the Broombridge depot rather than Sandyford, where they stored their lunch in a fridge.

Drivers previously returned to the original depot for lunch.

The Red Line has a canteen at the Red Cow depot, but there is nothing similar on the Green Line.

The drivers have previously rejected plans by operator Transdev that included vending machines with subsidised ready meals.

Greg Ennis, the transport divisional organiser for Siptu, said yesterday he did not rule out a ballot for industrial action following the rejection of the court's plan.

He stressed that there will be weeks of consultations ahead. However, the drivers would lose a 6.5pc bonus worth over €3,000 each if they took industrial action, and the union is required to give 21 days' notice of industrial action.

The drivers had previously been subject to a no-strike clause, but this ended due to an agreement in 2011.

The court said that the drivers should accept it was reasonable to take breaks at depots other than the one they started out from.

It added that a risk assessment of the effectiveness of cooler bags should be finished and the company ensure that the bags could keep food safe.

"In all of the circumstances, the court recommends that the parties should continue to work together to optimise the facilities available in both depots and in particular to ensure, as far as possible, that drivers enjoy similar facilities in both locations," the judgment said.

"The court also recommends that drivers should accept that, in the context of the agreement to co-operate with the operation of Luas Cross City and that agreement's preclusion of cost-increasing claims for its lifetime, it is reasonable for a driver to be required to take breaks at a depot other than his or her originating depot."

Transdev has argued that it would have to hire five extra drivers at a cost of €250,000 a year to allow staff to return to their original depot for lunch.

A spokesman for the company yesterday declined to comment on the outcome of the ballot.

Passengers would not welcome the prospect of new strikes following a hugely disruptive dispute two years ago.

There were daily scenes of commuters walking the track lines to get to work during the long-running dispute that ended when drivers accepted pay rises up to 18pc. They had originally sought pay increases worth up to 53pc.