THE ESB was putting a brave face on the crisis confronting it last night, following the rejection of its £270 million Cost and Competitiveness Review by shift workers in the power stations, who represent just 6 per cent of the 9,200 workforce.
The company has said repeatedly throughout the past two years of negotiations that the review must be accepted by all 60 categories of workers or it would fall. In the event, all but two categories voted to accept the CCR.
They comprise 29 drivers at Ballycoolin, who deliver internal supplies, and 560 shift workers in the power stations. The majority for rejection among shift workers was less than 140.
Last night the chief executive of the ESB, Mr Joe Moran, was emphasising that the overwhelming majority of employees had voted to accept the package.
There is an ESB board meeting on Tuesday, and Mr Moran said the company would be looking very carefully at the situation before then. The final decision about the fate of the CCR rested with the board, he said. But he stressed that there could be no renegotiation of the offer to the shift workers and drivers.
The Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications. Mr Lowry, welcomed the vote in favour of the CCR. He, too, stressed that there could be no renegotiation.
He appealed to "the groups who have not accepted the CCR to reconsider their position and join with the vast majority of staff in preparing the ESB for a successful future".
The recent price increases granted to the ESB were conditional on the CCR being accepted, but Mr Lowry said it would be inappropriate for him to comment further until the board reported to him next week.
After the voting concluded yesterday, union leaders were visibly disappointed, but were refusing to write off the CCR. Mr Willie Cremins, general secretary of the ESB Officers Association, whose members strongly supported the deal, said. "We have to look at the results in the context of the amount of change we have achieved."
Mr Denis Rohan of the ATGWU, the largest ESB union, whose members in the shift worker category had voted to reject the CCR, said. "We will have to take stock of the vote. We will consider our position over the next few days.
SIPTU had consistently opposed the terms on offer to the shift workers. Last night Mr Jack Nash of SIPTU said. "Nobody wants the CCR to fail, but with so many shift workers saying No.
The company has to ask itself why." He denied that the shift workers rejected the proposals simply because they might lose overtime payments.
"Their primary concern is over safety and staffing levels," he said. Numbers at power stations would be cut from 645 to 409. SIPTU remained available for talks, he added.
About 70 per cent of ESB employees are thought to have backed the CCR, which provided generous redundancy terms for 2,000 employees costing £210 million. Those remaining would receive the equivalent of an 8 per cent pay rise, £2,000 in lump sums and a 5 per cent share holding in the company.
The outcome will reinforce calls within the trade union movement for aggregate voting in companies on major restructuring deals. It was SIPTU which raised the issue when it last arose in Irish Steel, where craft workers vetoed a rescue package 18 months ago.
This time it will be general workers, SIPTU and ATGWU members, who will come under pressure from other unions, management and the Government to rethink their position.