ESB unions delay decision on strike action

UNIONS at ESB yesterday delayed until Friday a decision on whether to go ahead with strike action that could cause paralysing power cuts.

A joint meeting of all the unions will now decide whether to go ahead with the action on July 12.

Minister for Communications Dermot Ahern yesterday firmly ruled out one of union demands for an increase in the employees' shareholding in the company from 5% to 20%. This demand that equates to an extra €600m stake in the firm.

A spokesman for Mr Ahern said the 5% share granted in 1996 was an exceptional award granted in return for a major restructuring of the company. He said there was no mechanism for increasing it unless the ESB was privatised, which was not on the cards.

The main unions met briefly yesterday afternoon after one, the ESB Officers Association (ESBOA), acted independently of the others and served notice of intention to strike from July 12.

A joint statement issued afterwards, said a full meeting of all unions at the company was being called for 11am this Friday and that clarifications would be sought from management on a number of disputed issues in the meantime.

An ESB spokesman said that management had agreed to meet with the unions and expected to do so in the next few days.

The dispute arises from efforts to strike a new pay deal to succeed the existing PACT (Programme to Achieve Competitiveness and Transformation) deal, which was signed in 2001 and runs out tomorrow.

PACT gave the workers an average pay increase of 19% over three years and the unions looked for roughly the same, an average of 18.5%.

They also sought to increase the employee shareholding to 20%.

In May, however, management confirmed fears about the company pension fund, admitting to a deficit of €500m.

The unions say they are willing to amend their pay claim to seek lump sum payments that would not exacerbate this shortfall, but complain that management are not doing their share to address the problem.

An 85% majority of the company's 8,000 employees mandated the unions for action up to and including strike in a vote taken during the negotiations. The talks were described by company sources as "difficult and intense" before they broke down a fortnight ago.

The move by the 2,300-member ESBOA to activate the mandate through strike notice to management last Friday was a surprise, however, and has left a dilemma for the rest of the group of unions, the main members of which are the TEEU, ATGWU, Amicus and SIPTU.

The unions have acted jointly in negotiating in-house agreements since 1991 and the ESB has kept a clean sheet in avoiding power cuts due to industrial action since then.

Tensions have arisen among the group in recent times, however, with the 1,600 redundancies agreed under PACT affecting some unions to a greater extent than others.