Eircom talks adjourn at LRC

Talks between management at Eircom and trade unions adjourned last night after more than six hours of talks at the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) aimed at averting planned industrial action at the company.

Discussions at the LRC are expected to resume either today or tomorrow.

It is understood that senior management at Eircom will review the situation at a meeting today.

The dispute centres on a failure on the part of Eircom to pay a 2 per cent pay increase due in May under the terms of the national agreement, Towards 2016.

The company has sought to link payment of the increase to talks on work practice changes at the company.

Unions have said that they will not enter into discussions on the work practice reforms until the money is paid. They contend that management is not permitted to set preconditions for the wage rise.

They have also maintained that the company only put forward its proposals for change after the date for the payment of the money.

However, Eircom has argued that it is entitled to seek the work practice changes under the terms of the national agreement.

Unions at the firm have served a seven-day notice of industrial action which is due to expire on Thursday.

Union sources last night stressed that the talks at the LRC, which went on for more than six hours yesterday, had not broken down.

The general secretary of the Communications Workers Union (CWU), Steve Fitzpatrick, said that "where there's life there is hope".

A spokesman for Eircom said that the company was glad that discussions were under way and were continuing.

Unions at Eircom have declined to specify the nature of the industrial action that may take place if the talks at the LRC are not successful.

However, it is understood that options include a ban on overtime, non co-operation with certain activities, one-day stoppages, an all-out strike, or sectional stoppages.

About 97 per cent of members of the CWU voted last week in favour of the proposal for industrial action if the company, which is owned by Australian venture capital fund Babcock & Brown, refuses to pay the 2 per cent pay increase.