ABOUT 10,000 electricians around the country are not to receive a 5 per cent pay rise proposed last April following a ruling by the Labour Court.
In a determination issued yesterday, it found that an application to vary an existing registered employment agreement (REA) – which governs pay and conditions in the electrical contractor sector – did not now have support from employer bodies.
The proposed variation of the registered agreement, which it refused, would have raised wages by €1.05 per hour.
The court recommended the parties to the agreement should resume negotiations on rates of pay, “having regard to all relevant considerations, including the terms of the pay agreement associated with Towards 2016 Transitional Agreement 2008- 2009, the provisions of the REA itself and the current economic circumstances of the industry”.
Meanwhile, the Labour Court also rejected an application to cancel the registration of the registered employment agreement for the electrical contracting industry.
This was proposed by a body known as the National Electrical Contractors of Ireland (NECI), which represents about 600 contractors and another unaligned body of 541 named people who are engaged in the business.
The existing registered agreement governing terms and conditions was reached in 1990 between the TEEU union and two other employer bodies, the Electrical Contractors Association and the Association of Electrical Contractors of Ireland.
Witnesses for the applicants said the registered agreement had imposed undue costs on small contractors, which they found impossible to meet.
However, the court said it was satisfied “on the balance of probabilities, that the cancellation of the agreement would bring considerable disadvantage to workers in the sector, of which there are at least 12,000, and to the employers who employ a significant body of these workers”.
NECI chief executive Denis Judge said yesterday it was greatly disheartened at the determination. The Labour Court had disregarded evidence provided by 28 contractors. The body would ballot its members on whether to take the matter to the High Court.
TEEU said it welcomed the court’s main finding in that the NECI had failed to bring down the employment agreement.