Labour Court to meet both sides in electricians dispute
It had been hoped that the court would be able to issue a ruling binding on both sides to the dispute but that now seems unlikely and if agreement between the parties is not reached the strike could continue for some time.
The biggest electrical employer, the Electrical Contractors Association and the Technical Electrical and Engineering Union had both indicated to the Labour Relations Commission they would be willing to enter binding arbitration if it forwarded the process onto the Labour Court.
However, the Association of Electrical Contractors in Ireland was unwilling to give that commitment.
Overshadowing the talks process is the threat of legal action from unaligned electricians including the National Electrical Contractors of Ireland. They have indicated they will seek to legally overturn any deal which emerges from the Labour Court or LRC. They are not signed up to the Registered Employment Agreement under which electricians are demanding the 11% increase in their wages.
Yesterday the Taoiseach criticised both electricians and employers in the strike saying it had caused serious disruption.
Addressing the biennial delegate conference of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions in Tralee he said the dispute “reflected little credit on either side”.
“There is an onus on both sides to engage constructively in the (industrial relations third party) process and to reflect in their behaviour the reality of the impact the dispute is having on the wider economy and its reputation,” he said.
Mr Cowen also warned against the country returning “to the failed models of industrial conflict at a time when we require “to apply all our energies to positive innovation and creative change in order to preserve jobs and living standards”.
However, ICTU general secretary David Begg rejected the Taoiseach’s criticism of the striking electricians.
“For the last year they have been dragged through every court in the land by what has been deemed to be renegade employers who will not accept the 1946 Industrial Relations Act and structures it set up. There is more than a little suspicion that these employers are not as renegade as they appear and they have more popular support among the employers’ organisation than has been acknowledged.”
Cadbury Ireland and Irish Distillers have been granted an extension of injunctions received earlier this week against picketing outside their premises by electricians.