Electricians may strike over pay increases

ELECTRICIANS are preparing to strike to prevent their employers from hijacking the system which decides pay increases for themselves and hundreds of thousands of other Irish workers.

On Thursday, the electricians’ union TEEU will discuss a national strike ballot which will be activated in the event that their 5% pay increase is not paid under the industry’s Registered Employment Agreement (REA).

Such agreements are also in place in approximately 40 other industries, including the construction industry.

Yesterday, the new rates for electricians were due to be discussed by employers and unions at the Labour Court. However, a last-minute High Court injunction on Friday stopped the talks going ahead.

That injunction was sought by a new electrical employers group, National Electrical Contractors Ireland, which the union says is made up of ‘maverick’ contractors trying to avoid paying their employees their entitlements.

Until the row is resolved, electricians employed in the sector will not receive their 5% planned wage increase.

There are over 5,000 electrical contractors in Ireland employing over 10,000 electricians.

“As far as we are concerned it is an attempt by a group of dissident electrical contractors to frustrate a system that has worked well for over 60 years in meeting the needs of workers and employers in the industry,” said Dan Miller, assistant general secretary of the TEEU.

“It is no coincidence that some of these contractors have been found to be in breach of employment rights legislation.”

He singled out one contractor, Camlin Electrical, which has been charged with non-compliance by the labour inspectorate.

In that case the Labour Court ordered the company to pay arrears of €211,277 in underpaid wages and €64,271 in unpaid pension and sick pay contributions to the construction industry pension scheme.

The company questioned how representative the REA was of the industry. The matter is to go before the High Court on October 7.

The fear is that the overturning of an REA will open the floodgates for a huge number of employers in other sectors to question pay raises for their workers, especially in the current tight economic climate.

“This is yet another example of the growing trend by some employers to use the law to undermine and frustrate our voluntary industrial relations system,” said Dan Miller.

The TEEU executive is meeting on Thursday to consider holding a national strike ballot if the agreed increases are not paid. “This will lead inevitably to industrial action against any maverick employer who fails to pay the agreed increases,” said Mr Miller.