Disruption to water services expected as three-day strike set to get under way

Strike action by water workers in a number of local authority areas is to proceed over the coming three days with the level of disruption caused likely to be exacerbated by the approaching bank holiday weekend.

Boil water notices are expected to be issued in areas where faults occur, with the strike action delaying repairs to problems that arise.

About 100 members of Unite trade union are involved in the dispute which relates to issues including the proposed transfer of staff from local authorities to Uisce Éireann and guarantees in relation to the terms and conditions of those who decide not to move.

[ Water warning issued to several counties including Dublin and Cork ]

[ Water workers to strike over transfer of staff to Uisce Éireann ]

Siptu, which has a substantially larger number of members working in the sector, previously cancelled planned industrial action after receiving assurances from Minister for Local Government Darragh O’Brien that staff would not be worse off as a result of the proposed transfer or any redeployment within local authorities. Unite has said it wants assurances in writing from the individual local authorities regarding this.

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Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, South Dublin and Cork city are among the areas that will be potentially affected over the coming days. Strike action in Fingal was deferred on Tuesday after a provisional agreement was reached on the guarantees being sought.

[ Local authorities criticise water workers’ fresh strike action ]

Tom Fitzgerald of Unite said the likely impact of the strike on households is regrettable. With the action being followed immediately by a long weekend, “there is likely to be disruption”, he said.

The Local Government Management Association said the action was unnecessary and would cause problems for the public.

“Regrettably, previous industrial action significantly impacted water services customers with disruption of supplies and a significant number of boil water notices. Major concerns arose across the two days of industrial dispute [last month] at a number of water treatment plants across the country,” it said. “Local authority management urges Unite to recognise that industrial action is not necessary when collaborative structures exist to address their concerns.”