THE country’s biggest craft union has said that plans by the Government to tackle the unemployment crisis for apprentices in the construction industry are welcome, but warned it falls well short of what is needed.

NEW details of extravagant spending at Fás emerged last night with details of a bill for the Shelbourne Hotel costing the taxpayer more than €30,000 over two weeks.

EIGHT of the country’s largest trade unions have voted overwhelmingly in favour of accepting the new national wage agreement.

Members of three of the country’s largest unions have backed the draft national pay deal, it was announced today.

ONE of the country’s top unions has urged its 45,000 members to accept the proposed national pay deal.

One of the country's top unions today urged its 45,000 members to accept the proposed national pay deal.

AS THE Government tries to entice trade unions back into pay talks, the country’s biggest craft union has instructed its members to start seeking the biggest pay claim to date.

HEALTH Minister Mary Harney was given the cold shoulder by SIPTU — for reportedly being “too busy” to discuss a recruitment embargo with the union’s nursing section.

THERE were signs of progress last night in the so-called light bulb dispute between health managers and hospital electricians.

Surgery will resume in Kerry General Hospital today after electricians, suspended during a row over the changing of a lightbulb, restored emergency cover.

THE threat of further cancelled operations at Kerry General Hospital was lifted last night after the hospital said emergency cover was restored by members of the Technical, Engineering and Electrical Union (TEEU).

ELEVEN operations were cancelled yesterday as the light bulb dispute between health managers and electricians escalated.

The Technical Engineering and Electrical Union has voted in favour of accepting the new partnership agreement.

Serbians working on the ESB’s €3bn network renewal programme are owed up to €40,000 each in pay arrears, it emerged today.

UP to 70 Polish workers employed at the ESB power station at Moneypoint are owed an estimated €600,000 in wages after a probe found they were being paid less than a third of the agreed hourly rate.

A Polish company which was paying its workers below the minimum wage on the ESB Moneypoint power station project has agreed to compensate them, it emerged tonight.

THE Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) will today ask member unions not to make a decision on entering negotiations on a new national agreement until the Government provides clarification on provisions to protect employment rights.

The Technical, Engineering and Electrical Union has criticised the Government’s demand that trade unions respond within two weeks to the business plan for the break-up of Aer Rianta.

THE Health and Safety Authority (HSA) is investigating an explosion that killed a 38-year old man and injured two others at an ESB power plant.

A STRIKE is looming over the Government’s plans to break-up Aer Rianta’s central control over Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports.

The general secretary of the Technical Engineering and Electrical Union Mr Owen Wills has told his members that failure to agree on a successor to the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness "is now a more likely scenario" than was previously thought, but "the TEEU has the capacity to negotiate effectively on behalf of our members regardless of any agreement".