TALKS WERE continuing last night at the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) in an attempt to bring to an end a strike involving up to 10,500 electricians that has seriously affected the construction industry and parts of the manufacturing sector over recent days.
Representatives of electrical contractors held face-to-face talks with officials of the Technical Engineering and Electrical Union (TEEU) last night, following which employer sources said they were more positive than they had been earlier that a successful outcome could be achieved.
A spokesman for both bodies representing electrical contractors in the talks, the ECA and AECI, said last night that they had “reiterated their commitment to the registered employment agreement for setting pay and conditions in the sector in return for the ending of the strike”.
Under the registered employment agreement system, pay cuts of 10 per cent, as had been sought by employers, could not be introduced without agreement of the union. The TEEU did not comment last night on progress in the talks.
The latest talks at the LRC came as IDA Ireland warned that the industrial action, which has been running for three days, had the potential to damage Ireland’s reputation amid tough conditions in the market for inward investment.
IDA chief executive Barry O’Leary said that Ireland was competing with many other countries for large projects.
“One should be very, very careful in protecting Ireland’s reputation,” Mr O’Leary said. “I’m deeply concerned. If this is not solved soon, it will have an impact.”
Yesterday, another large manufacturing company, Irish Distillers, secured a temporary High Court injunction restraining picketing of its plant at Midleton, Co Cork, by the TEEU and others.
Irish Distillers claimed the picket may seriously affect jobs and operations.
In a separate case yesterday, the High Court continued until next Monday an injunction preventing picketing of the Guinness brewery at St James’s Gate in Dublin in support of the electricians’ strike. Diageo had last Monday obtained a temporary injunction against a named picketer and against anyone with notice of the injunction.
Chocolate manufacturer Cadbury Ireland has also been granted a temporary injunction.
At the start of the talks yesterday, the secretary general-designate of the TEEU, Eamon Devoy, said an all-out picket by construction industry unions would be in place by the end of next week if the dispute over electricians’ pay was not resolved. He rejected the assertion that his members were seeking a pay rise, claiming “employers were withholding pay from our members for the 2007-2008 pay period”.
The union is seeking an increase of about 11 per cent, which it maintains is due to its members for up to two years.
On Tuesday, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions approved an application for an all-out picket in the construction sector and other unions are currently arranging to ballot members for strike action in support of the electricians.
Eddie Keenan, from the Construction Industry Federation, said he was hopeful a resolution could be found but that discussions had to take place in the context of the current economic conditions.
However, another employers’ group representing small to medium-sized electrical contractors said yesterday it was being “deliberately shut out” of the process to resolve the electricians’ dispute and would consider taking legal action against any agreement reached.
The National Electrical Contractors of Ireland (NECI), which represents about 600 contractors, said a small number of large contractors were dictating the terms and conditions for the entire electrical industry.
Members of NECI held a protest yesterday outside the Dublin offices of the Labour Relations Commission.
Pay in most areas of the electrical contractor sector is decided by a registered employment agreement, which sets legally binding minimum pay rates and conditions in the industry.
The chief executive of NECI, Denis Judge, said his members were forced to abide by these agreements even though they had no say in the process, and the pay terms were “squeezing many out of business”.