I agree Steve, you can see that employers are growing towards a project approach, recruiting expertise for when they need it.
This is cost saving as they don’t have to pay sick leave, holidays and other perks or simply not paying a salary while the expertise isn’t required at that stage.

I don’t think you can describe this particular case as being “project based”

‘growing towards a project approach’ is a sophisticated way of saying ‘treat labour like any other resource, divest yourself of it when it becomes too costly or inconvenient’, the only problem is that individual workers then become the responsibility of the government between contracts, while business leaders hypocritically bemoan the largesse of the state

Tomy: I realise its stretching it a bit, but from the operators view it is a project. They have the license only for so long before they need to re-tender.
I admin, that the only reason they do this to the drivers is so they can reduce the costs.

Dietrich: Despite the negatives, I think project orientated management is the future. My kids won’t know permanent jobs, unless they are part of the core organisation.

Every contract is a short term contract. No-one can promise you a job for life. If you do the job well, they might let you go, if you do the job badly, they might keep you. If they have reduced business anything can happen. C’est la vie.

We are the cogs in a big corporate machine – there’s nothing wrong with that – is there?

Someone mentioned here that the union had supported it in the first place. What has changed then?

Seems to me that the unions in Ireland might be a tad over-powerful. Is it government by the people or by the unions in Ireland? They both seem equallly well-paid!

Boom

Labour Relations Commission is a joke if employers break a recommendation they are pilloried by the unions but when it’s vice versa sure let’s have a strike.the reason for the 12 month contract issue is that terminating a contract is much more difficult with a three tier warning system on any issue except gross misconduct,example three warnings for persistent lateness but if their is another problem then you have to start from scratch this means getting rid of an incompetent employee can take a considerable period of time and in a unionised environment even longer.I agree with employee’s rights but when employers are seeking flexibility in a tight financial environment there is the promlem.Once a contract reaches 12months and one day all of the above applies.

We don’t know anything about their rostering. The Luas runs seven days a week, and nineteen hours a day on weekdays. I fail to see what your grievance about the Luas schedule – which i actually happen to agree with – has to do with this issue?

What a stupid comment! How the staff are rostered has nothing to do with the bloody timetable for god sake! Its not the drivers who decide at what time tye service ends! And to my knowledge, the tube certainly does not operate til 4am or any other system in Europe!

trains run long into the night in Berlin

Unions like SIPTU allowed all this 12 month contract nonsense to evolve in the first place. Now they are going through the motions of being upset.

So take what the bosses give you or stagnate on the dole? If they dont fight for proper conditions the next crowd will have to take the same crap. There is no fair exchange, there is no option for jobseekers to refuse crap contracts when companies like Veolia have massive capital reserves, massive contracts and a massive pool of labour to choose from. Bargaining individually is fine when you’re in senior management and can afford to turn down offers and know you wont have to starve because of it, collective action is the only option when you dont have that economic power.

I was thinking the same thing
Won’t cut much ice here in Donegal, we have weightier matters to ponder on!!!

It does affect those outside Dublin that have to commute to Dublin for work and need onward transport. Jeez, typical ignorance

so having a job doesnt entitle you to look for fairer conditions b/s comment

12 month rolling contracts are a bloody disgrace. How can anyone make any sort of decisions about their life if they don’t know if they’ll be arbitrarily slung out of a job in under a year?
No way to live.

i thought that when a person was in a job for over 11 months they must be made permanent.
did,nt c.i.e try that scam on their drivers/conductors in the mid 80,s and were found to be in breach of IRISH labour law then again dosnt der kommendant merkle etc have control over dear auld direland

Larry Roe
What you consider fair working conditions is a foreign workers opportunity.
Why do you think Ireland has so many migrant workers?

What was wrong with the Labour Court recommendation?
No sympathy here.

Ah,save the xenophobia for yer ma stray mutt!

Offering 12 month rolling contracts more than 3 years in a row, instead of offering the person the job on a permanent basis, is illegal I believe. The Luas operator could find themselves in the Labour Court if this is what they are up to.

these drivers are only on 20odd thousands and are let go after they complete a 12 month contract… doesn’t sound like the best of conditions to me…

Then uninstall the app and stop reading it. Nobody’s holding your face to the page.

Are Veolia (who run Luas) not a private company?