Union recommends Eircom rescue plan

EIRCOM employees have been advised by the Communications Workers’ Union (CWU) to accept a controversial company plan aimed at saving €92 million over a three-year period.

The CWU national executive, which represents the majority of Eircom’s 7,000 workers, said yesterday that it was reluctantly recommending the proposed Rescue Plan to its members.

The plan is necessitated due to the company’s more than €3 billion debt and envisages pay cuts and redundancies.

If the plan is agreed, the first major tranche of savings will be delivered through the introduction of a reduced time formula that will result in employees only working nine days per fortnight, leading to a direct 10% reduction in their pay.

In a statement the CWU national executive said: “The proposed agreement also outlines a long list of proposed changes, which will be negotiated over a short timeframe and which will be expected to transform the company into a modern telecommunications company.

“It is also expected that these changes will lead to a return of the lost time to the workforce within an 18 month timeframe.”