Local authority water services workers in four areas of the country have voted overwhelmingly for industrial action in a dispute over the establishment of Uisce Éireann as an independent entity.
The staff involved, who are members of Siptu, have the option of either moving to the newly independent body or remaining with their current employers.
Amid fears that their public sector status might be lost at some point in the future, many want to opt for redeployment within their local authority but there are concerns that they will be financially worse off due to the loss of allowances currently paid for mandatory time spent on call.
Employers have said in documentation that the workers will not be worse off after the reorganisation.
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“The framework agreement clearly states that terms and conditions are to be retained, but when we tested the meaning of that with the local authorities, it was clear that while core terms and conditions would be protected, the commitment on the retention of the value of earnings was not there. This is a key part of enabling the successful transfer to Uisce Éireann and without it, the transfer just won’t happen,” said Siptu divisional organiser Karan O’Loughlin.
Ms O’Loughlin put the number of the union’s members potentially impacted at about 3,000 and the range of potential losses to individual members at between €80 and €150 per week.
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“Over the space of a month, that’s very significant money and it is not right that these workers should be out of pocket because of a political decision that has been taken,” she said.
The percentages of those voting in favour of industrial action in the ballots completed so far in Cork, Limerick, Dún Laoghaire/Rathdown and Fingal are said to have been in the 90s and the process is scheduled to be completed nationally by May 4th when the union’s water services committee will meet to decide on how to proceed with industrial action.
Ms O’Loughlin says that measures to minimise disruption to homes will be considered in the event that the dispute results in strike action, something she believes is likely in the event that the guarantees being sought are not received, “but disruption to users both domestic and industrial is inevitable if water services workers go on strike”.
