Two days of strike action at Luas look set to go ahead next month after talks collapsed at the Workplace Relations Commission yesterday.

Escalating differences between the sides mean that talks to be held on Monday have been shelved due to the unlikelihood of reaching an agreement.

Drivers have held a series of work stoppages to secure pay rises of up to 53% over five years.

SIPTU is denying claims by management that drivers are using extended toilet breaks to disrupt the service.

Eoin Reidy is from the Union: “Transdev’s approach these days seems to be to write letters to SIPTU and to copy that same letter to everyone in the media.

“There does certainly seem to be a level of demonization, where the company seem to be demonising their staff.

“I think that is quite unfortunate, I think it is quite immature as well and it is not the way to resolve disputes.”