SIPTU shop stewards are meeting today to consider the latest settlement proposals in their dispute with the ESB and the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers Union over representation rights. They will also be meeting the company to discuss emergency cover if Wednesday's strike goes ahead.
Even if levels of cover can be agreed it seems inevitable that power cuts will occur if talks break down.
Both unions and management are acutely aware of the damage a dispute over who should represent 120 network technicians (NTs) could have on the future of the ESB.
The company's board is meeting tomorrow to decide whether to recommend partial privatisation to the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke.
It had been hoped that an initiative by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions on Friday would avert a strike but it will not be clear until later today if this was successful. The ICTU had proposed using the same mechanism to represent SIPTU's NTs in current talks as was used during the Cost and Competitive Review in 1996.
On that occasion the right to negotiate was conceded by the ATGWU on a temporary basis. However, SIPTU now appears to be seeking more permanent guarantees on representation for its members. Altogether there are more than 2,000 NTs, the rest of whom are in the ATGWU and TEEU. The latter union has been trying to help find a resolution.
If the SIPTU action goes ahead all 600 members at power stations throughout the country will be placing pickets. Given the growing discontent within all the ESB unions over lack of progress on pay talks it is expected that members of other unions will refuse to pass them.
Even if the SIPTU strike only disrupts production at power stations where it is strong, such as Moneypoint in Clare, Poolbeg and the North Wall in Dublin, and Great Island in Wexford, this would force the company to ration supplies.
Yesterday the ATGWU confirmed it was willing to agree to a compromise similar to 1996. However, SIPTU branch secretary Mr Tony Dunne said his union needed "ongoing assurances" about its right to represent members. "The company is also a party to this," he added. "We are entitled to represent our members and need to know it will buy into whatever is agreed."