CWU will 'do all in its power' to block sale of eircom

The Communications Workers Union said this afternoon that it would do all it could to block the sale of eircom unless it receives assurances on staff pay and conditions.

A union spokesman said that media coverage of the proposed takeover by Babcock & Brown had been unfairly focusing on the financial gains of employee shareholders.

General Secretary Steve Fitzpatrick said the union would be promoting the interest of both members and non-members of the Employee Share Ownership Trust:

“This is the fourth time the company will be sold in a short number of years,” he said.

“Nobody is buying this for the benefit of the workers or the benefit of the customers.

“They're buying this to make profit and how they make this profit is of huge interest to us and we're particularly worried that they don't make that profit on our backs.”