Talks aimed at ending a three-month-old dispute by bricklayers opposed to the practice of subcontracting were called off last night when a director of Michael McNamara & Co, the main contractor concerned, refused to continue negotiations unless unofficial pickets were lifted.
The talks, between McNamara & Co, a number of sub-contractors and Mr Paddy O'Shaughnessy, the general secretary of the Building and Allied Trades Union, were due to get underway on Monday under the auspices of the Labour Relations Commission. .
"We could not possibly negotiate while the pickets continue," Mr Sean McBennet, McNamara's construction director, said. "But we're more than happy to attend talks as long as the pickets are removed." He said the picketers had no connection with his company and did not work on its sites.
The dispute involves a number of key McNamara construction sites at the Dail and Beaumont Hospital, and is the latest chapter in the campaign by bricklayers who want to be directly employed rather than sub-contracted.
BATU, which has denied its involvement, has been linked to a number of unofficial actions taken in support of the campaign over the past two years, with unofficial pickets being placed on a number of prominent sites in tandem with supportive action on others. In one case, two workers were imprisoned for refusing to obey a High Court order refraining them from picketing.
Mr O'Shaughnessy, whose union and its trustees are being sued by McNamara and Kilburn Developments, the bricklaying sub-contractor, could not comment on the situation last night in view of the legal proceedings.
However, he did issue a written notice to each union member last June, making it clear they were in breach of the law by picketing McNamara's and instructing those involved in the dispute to cease. Failure to do so would leave them open to legal action.
But Mr McBennett said last night this was just an attempt by the union to distance itself from its members' actions. BATU has sole negotiating rights for bricklayers in the State. Its position is therefore seen to be pivotal for any resolution of the dispute, regardless of whether it is official.
Mr Martin Young, chief executive of Kilburn Developments, whose bricklayers have been working for McNamara's on some of the biggest construction sites in Dublin for the last six years, issued a statement last month, following criticism at the ICTU biennial conference in Killarney, saying he was forced to resort to the courts because of the disruption to his operations.
BATU was the sole union to reject the Registered Employment Agreement for the construction industry - agreed towards the end of last year - because it allowed sub-contractors as long as they agreed to abide by industry guidelines.
At a special delegate conference in March, BATU opted to ballot its members across the board on whether to accept the agreement. It is understood members have voted to reject the agreement.