Siptu has said a protestor at an ongoing picket outside a Greyhound waste facility in Dublin suffered “severe spinal injuries” when he was struck by a vehicle exiting the premises.

The company said injuries were the last thing it wanted to see occur but maintained it had continued to warn about the conduct of the picket at the Knockmitten depot in west Dublin.

A statement from the union claimed that James Burke (42) had been participating in the strike when he was struck by a van yesterday.

He was taken to Tallaght Hospital where today he was awaiting medical advice on whether surgery was required for a fractured shoulder.

Siptu utilities and construction organiser Owen Reidy said this was the third such incident of a worker being hit by a vehicle and, according to medical staff, he was lucky not to have been left paralysed.

A spokesman for the company responded: “The last thing Greyhound wants is for anyone to be injured and that is why we have been raising the issue of health and safety in the last few weeks.”

He said those on the picket line had been walking out in front of vehicles entering and exiting the depot. The vehicle involved in the latest incident did not belong to Greyhound, he added.

Siptu workers at Greyhound have been in dispute with the company, following the imposition of pay cuts, since the middle of June.

There is little sign of a thaw in the dispute and the company yesterday reiterated its position that all parties should return to the Labour Court to seek a binding resolution.

Siptu has called on the company to end what it calls a “lock-out” of workers and allow them to return to work on their existing terms of employment.

“Once this is done, the workers’ representatives and management can sit down and engage in serious negotiations, free from the growing rancor that surrounds this dispute,” it said.