Dublin scaffolders have decided by a narrow majority to defer industrial action for a week to allow pay talks to take place next week. But they also decided that, if a satisfactory employers' offer was not made, they would start industrial action from March 31st.
Nearly 500 scaffolders attended a meeting in Liberty Hall yesterday to be told the Construction Industry Federation is prepared to discuss pay issues with their union, SIPTU.
The mood of the meeting was angry. Many accused the CIF of "playing for time".
Most of the scaffolders who attended are working on dock-land, city centre and large-scale housing developments.
SIPTU's construction branch chairman, Mr Mick Finnegan, said afterwards most of the scaffolders were working on houses that now cost two or three times what they would have been sold for three years ago, but wages had only increased marginally.