Committee Reports > List of Committees > Joint > 1979 > Committee on Commercial State-Sponsored Bodies > Report No. 04 - Córas Iompar Éireann

APPENDIX 4

MEMORANDUM FROM CIE CONCERNING DECENTRALISED MANAGEMENT

The management of CIE is decentralised by area or region and in certain cases by function. In the decentralised management structure there are the five Area Managers in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford and also the Manager, Dublin City Services, and the Chief Civil Engineer and Mechanical Engineer (Rail). Each of these officers has full responsibility for day to day activities and operations and for short-term planning also contributes to corporate long-term planning and policy which are the responsibility of central management. The structure enables full account to be taken of local requirements and conditions in the design and provision of services. Matters affecting customers or the staff can be dealt with as near as possible to where they arise and where knowledge of them is greatest and with the least possible delay and, at the same time, within the terms of corporate policies and plans.

Each of the Area Managers has a business manager for the three main activities, Rail, Road Passenger and Freight. These managers manage their particular business directly in the main centre and through District Managers, who are executively responsible to the Rail business manager but cover all three business areas, in the principal outlying centres in the Area. Within each Area there is also a Personnel Officer, an Accountant and a Maintenance Superintendent (for building maintenance) who are directly responsible to the Area Manager and have a functional responsibility to the appropriate central manager in the matters of corporate policies, standards and procedures.

The management structure in Dublin City Services and in the Engineering Departments is on the same basic lines with detailed differences to meet specific requirements.

In the Personnel and Industrial Relations function, the central department is responsible for negotiating the main collective agreements on rates of pay and conditions of employment with the trade unions. The matters covered by these agreements include:

basic rates of pay;

payments for overtime; Sunday duty; night duty;

shift working; service pay;

differential payments;

expenses and allowances;

disturbance allowance and transfer payments;

working hours;

annual leave and public holidays;

uniform and protective clothing.

The central department is also responsible for negotiations relating to:

superannuation and pension schemes;

welfare schemes;

disciplinary procedures and grievance procedures (i.e. the procedural agreements; the procedures are applied by the line managers);

schemes for negotiation and consultation;

travel facilities.

The department consults as appropriate with the line managers on proposed changes in the main collective agreements and the schemes referred to above.

All local negotiations are the responsibility of the Area and Departmental managers. These negotiations may be carried out by the appropriate subordinate manager in the Area or Department. The matters for local negotiation include:

—questions relating to the application of agreements to the staff, including agreements negotiated centrally or locally;

—staff grievances;

—work rosters and staff arrangements;

—changes in local working arrangements;

—arrangements for more efficient working in work locations and in the operation of services;

—arrangements for annual leave or special leave;

—grading of staff (subject to the arrangements set out in the Manual of Personnel Procedures);

—staff facilities.

The objective of the arrangements is to resolve problems where possible at the level at which they arise and within a reasonable time. The manager responsible for negotiations in each case deals with the matter at issue to a conclusion, including representation of CIE at any hearing or investigation by a Rights Commissioner or the Labour Court.

14 September, 1979.