Sir, - Mr Tony Dunne, SIPTU's energy branch secretary, is quick to point out that the workers should share in the £160 million profits of the ESB for 1997. Would the workers be prepared to take a wage-cut similar to their claim if the ESB had £160 million losses in 1997?
The profits made by the ESB in 1997 are generated by an increase in the use of electricity by householders and industry as a result of our booming economy and not by a sudden increase in productivity by ESB workers. A more justifiable claim would be a reduction in the cost of electricity to householders and industry, since they created the profit in the first instance. -Yours, etc.,
James Purcell,
Hampton Cove,
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Balbriggan.