Strikes could lead to ‘rogue operators’

ELECTRICAL employers have warned ongoing strike action by electricians could lead to an influx of rogue operators into the industry paying a fraction of the agreed rates.

Pickets were yesterday placed by electricians at more than 200 high-profile companies and construction sites, including Dublin Airport expansion and the new Lansdowne Road stadium in Dublin, the Cork University Hospital expansion in Cork, the Moneypoint power plant in Co Clare and the Corrib Gas field in Co Mayo.

They were protesting at the failure by electrical employers to increase the basic rate of pay in the industry to just under €24, as well as plans by those employers to seek further changes in terms and conditions built up through registered employment agreements over the last 20 years.

The union applied to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) for an “all-out” strike at locations where it has mounted pickets. If the ICTU empowered other unions to hold ballots they could vote to join the Technical Engineering Electrical Union (TEEU) on the picket line, effectively closing down operations.

While the union had expected its 10,500 members in the industry to take part in the action, according to Jack Hegarty, president of the Association of Electrical Contractors in Ireland (AECI) said only between 1,500 and 2,000 manned the pickets with thousands more continuing to work.

Mr Hegarty said his members and those of the Electrical Contractors Association simply could not afford to pay the increases sought under the 2008 Registered Employment Agreement (REA). However, he said the 2007 agreement had brought pay in the industry up to €22 an hour.

“That is a fabulous rate,” he said. “We claimed inability to pay (for a further increase) in 2008 and we still claim that. However, when the work comes back of course we will pay it.”

Mr Hegarty admitted his members sought changes in the terms and conditions governed by the REA, but he said any change would have to be made through discussion and agreement.

Mr Hegarty also said his members were continuing to pay the €22 rate in the face of opposition from unregulated contractors.

He said legitimate contractors were having to price their work at well below the rate per electrician and make up the difference out of their own contractors.

“If this action keeps going, the unregulated contractors will grow in number paying well below the €22 and that will simply lead to a fast race to the bottom,” he said.

On the picket lines, some echoed that sentiment.

One employee of O’Shea’s Electrical at the Pfizer plant in Ringaskiddy said: “There are subcontractors coming in paying people €16 an hour, which is well below the rate. The fellas working for those contractors are willing to work for that because of the lack of work. Companies like the one I work for cannot compete with that.”

However, that worker also said that while a lot of electricians were happy with the rate they were getting, they would not take any less.

“There is an 11% increase owed to us from two years ago. They want to give us a 10% cut on the 2007 agreed rate. That means we will be losing 21% off the wages we should be getting. That would reduce us to the wages of labourers even though we have a technical trade that we have trained to achieve. We had to serve our time as apprentices earning only a few euros an hour.”