SIPTU is threatening industrial action at the ESB over union recognition within the network technician grade. Although SIPTU has only around 600 members in the company these are concentrated in Moneypoint and the midlands power stations, which gives them the capacity to cause serious power cuts.
Strike notice has been served for October 18th, two days after the 2,000-strong ESB Officials' Association is due to take industrial action in pursuit of a pay claim. Informal talks between the ESBOA and the company are taking place, but it is likely to be Friday at the earliest before it is clear if progress has been made.
One complicating factor is that the company has already conceded pay increases worth about 20 per cent to network technicians while rejecting the 16.5 per cent claim from the ESBOA. The SIPTU dispute is technically about union recognition, but an inter-union dispute complicates the issues further.
SIPTU has 150 members in the 2,000 network technician grade. The main unions are the ATGWU and TEEU. A SIPTU branch secretary, Mr Tony Dunne, has accused the company of excluding his union from negotiations on the Programme for Action Competitiveness and Transparency (PACT), although it was in negotiations on its predecessor, the Cost and Competitiveness Review.
However, the company says it is following long-established practice and negotiating with the main unions in the network technician category. The ATGWU's Mr Denis Blanch, who is also chairman of the ESB group of unions, said SIPTU had been allowed to negotiate on behalf of its members in the grade during the CCR process as "a special arrangement".
The dispute reflects underlying tensions between SIPTU and the ATGWU, not only in the ESB but at national level.