A threatened strike at the ESB has been put on hold following the intervention of the general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Mr David Begg.
Unions decided yesterday to delay implementation of the strike to allow Mr Begg time to pursue a resolution with the company and the Government.
However, the strike notice issued last week by one union at the company, the ESB Officers' Association, remains in place.
The notice will expire on July 12th, but the union has not indicated whether an all-out strike would begin immediately. If it did it would most likely lead to power cuts, as fitters in the company have said they would support action by the ESBOA.
It is hoped that the initiative taken by Mr Begg will deliver sufficient progress for all unions to maintain industrial peace. He wrote to the ESB group of unions last week to say he had raised their concerns with the Government and would be doing so again.
"Needless to say, Congress would expect that, in an industry as critical as the ESB, industrial peace will be maintained until all avenues to explore a solution to the issues in contention have been exhausted," he said.
Following a meeting of the group of unions yesterday, its secretary, Mr Paddy Reilly, said a unanimous decision had been taken to "endorse and welcome" Mr Begg's initiative.
"We are hopeful that his intervention will lead to a resolution of the difficulties we face and in the meantime we have agreed not to escalate the situation any further," he said.
Pay and conditions at the ESB are governed by a partnership agreement that expired last month. The unions have lodged a claim for an 18.5 per cent pay increase over the next three years, and are also seeking a 20 per cent stake for workers in the company.
The issues have been complicated by a €510 million shortfall in the company's pension fund, with agreement yet to be worked out on how this should be addressed.
