Staff at the defunct ESB power station in Rhode, Co Offaly, have rejected a closure package worth about €250,000 each. The rejection of the €20 million package is a major setback for the State electricity company which faces possible wildcat strike action if the plant is closed down unilaterally. Arthur Beesley reports.
This raises the possibility of power cuts, which itself is seen as the principal reason behind the Government's apparent reluctance to publicly urge closure of the plant. Acknowledging a "deep concern" that Rhode staff members might initiate unofficial industrial action, the ESB chairman, Mr Taghd O'Donoghue, said there was an "equal concern" within the company to shut the plant.
Sources in the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources expressed "surprise" and "amazement" at the development. The vote by 59 votes to 45 to reject the offer came despite efforts by trade unions to secure acceptance.
Relations between the unions and staff at Rhode have been tense and the failure to secure support is unusual for a movement which is particularly powerful within the ESB. The head of the ESB group of unions, Mr Paddy Reilly, said last night that time was needed to reflect on the outcome of the vote.
But while a ruling by the company's Joint Industrial Council (JIC) allows for a 30-day cooling-off period after the vote, the ESB board is expected to move quickly after that to close the plant down.
"The only issue is when and on what terms it will close, but close it must," said Mr O'Donoghue.
Not a watt of electricity has been produced at the plant since a worker was seriously injured in an explosion in May 2001. Despite a board decision last February to proceed with closure, negotiations failed to establish an agreement.
More than 100 staff have clocked in every day since the explosion, with the ESB spending €60,000 per week on wages and other costs, including shift and overtime allowances and local and national pay increases. The bill to keep the plant open by the May 31st deadline was €6.24 million.
Though the closure package and previous offers to shut the plant were regarded as extremely generous, the workers held out for compensation for exposure to asbestos at the peat-burning plant. The package is now expected to be withdrawn.
A very small number of staff have contracted asbestos-linked illness. But colleagues who are not unwell want compensation for the stress caused by their fear of becoming ill - such conditions lie dormant for years before symptoms emerge.
This stance was regarded as highly unreasonable by the ESB, which offered compensation for physical ailments. The company sees asbestos as a health issue, separate from industrial relations.
Mr O'Donoghue said certain directors had had "more than enough" of the process, adding that the Government would see the board as "irresponsible" if didn't proceed with the closure.
He added: "The board was genuinely surprised at the richness of the package that was offered, there's no question about that. But having said that, it would have gone along with it on the basis that the board has always gone along with JIC rulings whether they liked them or not."
He said the ESB board would discuss the matter at its next meeting on February 25th. However, the board would be unable to make a formal decision until the cooling-off period ended.
The Rhode affair follows the closure of another Co Offaly plant, at Ferbane, which was open at a cost of €8.89 million for two years after production stopped. Four other old peat-burning stations are to close in the next number of years to make way for the introduction of two bigger peat stations at Lanesborough, Co Longford, and Shannonbridge, Co Offaly.
