Strike threatens to disrupt home gas supplies

THOUSANDS of Bord Gáis customers face huge disruption to their service from next Monday because of a strike at one of the supplier’s main contractors.

SIPTU has served strike notice on Enterprise Plc, a British-based contractor responsible for the maintenance and upgrade of the Bord Gáis network in Dublin and Leinster. Up to 130 people working on the network are expected to take part in the action.

The union said the action could affect the ability of Bord Gáis to maintain its network. According to SIPTU, the dispute arose after Enterprise Plc dismissed 16 workers, including two shop stewards when there was no shortage of work on the networks. That work was being handed over to subcontractors. They claimed some of the subcontractors used by Enterprise were non-compliant and in breach of registered employment agreements.

“Eight out of 12 subcontractors are not in the construction industry pension scheme and we are pursuing a claim for €40,000 on behalf of four Romanian workers who were systematically underpaid and eventually left with no pay at all for their last five weeks, when the cheques bounced,” said SIPTU branch organiser John Murphy. “In spite of this, and commitments from Bord Gáis that it would ensure compliance by subcontractors with Enterprise Plc, nothing has happened.

“Our members have voted by 85% for industrial action because they realise that they too face displacement if this total disregard for agreements continues. This is a situation where one of Ireland’s major semi-state companies is hiding behind a screen of subcontractors to avoid its responsibilities and, if it is not prepared to live up to its responsibilities, we will smoke them out in this dispute,” he said, adding the claim that members had been threatened with dismissal if they went on strike.

Last night, Bord Gáis said it received “unequivocal assurances” from contractors that they were compliant with Construction Industry Registered Agreements.