ESB management is set to meet unions at the State-owned electricity supplier to avert the threat of a strike over plans to break up the company.
Workers at the company moved a step closer to switching off the lights by voting 90 per cent in favour of industrial action, up to and including striking, over Government plans to split the ESB's electricity generating and transmission businesses.
The results of the ballot of members of all unions at the State company emerged yesterday afternoon.
The Republic's householders and some small enterprises would be worst hit by a strike. Businesses and other large organisations can buy their power from the ESB's competitors.
The unions said yesterday that they were going to seek a meeting with management before serving strike notice or taking any other action. Management will be obliged to implement the Government plan and has already discussed the issue with workers' representatives.
John Ryder, assistant regional industrial organiser for the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union (ATGWU), said the ballot signalled the beginning of a new "more accelerated" industrial relations process .
While the ESB did not comment beyond saying it "noted" the result of the vote, it is thought that management will meet union representatives in an effort to halt industrial action.
The situation is complicated by the fact that the ESB's management has itself told the Government that it is concerned about elements of the break-up plan.
Sources said yesterday that the unions' move was directed at the Government rather than management. One argued that ESB management would "not be unhappy" with the vote's outcome.
The break-up plan is contained in a Government White Paper published last March. It calls for the national grid, which transmits power from generating plants to the distribution network, to be spun off from the company as a separate entity.
Currently, an independent agency, Eirgrid, operates the Republic's national grid, but the ESB retains ownership. The Government believes that making the grid independent of the ESB would help boost competition as it is used by both the State company and its competitors.
However, workers are opposed to the plan as they believe that it threatens the long-term viability of the company.
