Bord na Móna staff strike over pay

Almost 1,500 staff at Bord na Móna will today hold a one-day all-out strike at the plant over pay demands.

If those demands are not met it is likely the action will be escalated further with more prolonged strikes which could severely undermine the peat producer’s ability to supply its customers such as ESB.

Today’s action comes after almost two thirds of the staff — members of Unite, Siptu, and the Technical Electrical and Engineering Unions — rejected a deal hammered out between union representatives and the company.

The workers have been demanding a 3.5% pay increase in line with the first phase of the Towards 2016 national wage agreement.

In April, a compromise deal was reached between Bord na Móna and the group of unions which would have seen staff being given 1.75% of basic pay from Apr 1, a performance-related payment worth up to 1.75% of basic pay paid in 2013, and a one-off lump sum of €800.

The deal was to be accompanied by a pay freeze until 2016.

When the unions balloted their members on the offer, 60% rejected it.

The unions have pointed out that the payments had been due since early 2009, and say the company has been profitable since then. They have also said they recommended the deal reached with the company to their members because it was the best that could possibly be achieved through negotiation.

The group of unions is to meet following today’s action to decide its impact and will also decide what form any further action will take.

Oliver McDonagh of Siptu said that while it was up to the full group of unions to decide, further more prolonged periods of strike action could not be ruled out.

Last November when this long-running dispute began to become more volatile, Bord na Móna said it had pointed out to unions that to increase rates of pay by 3.5% “would undermine employment in Bord na Móna at a very bleak time in the Irish economy”.

“It would lead to an increase in fixed costs which would need to be funded by reductions in costs,” it said at that point. “Over the last five years the average number employed at Bord na Móna has increased by some 370. To fund a 3.5% increase in this manner could jeopardise some 80 jobs at the company.”

After confirmation of the strike, it said it was disappointed as it considered the Apr 4 deal “a fair and reasonable accommodation of the interests of all parties”.

Today’s action is unlikely to impact on the supply of peat to ESB for power generation as the company has a stockpile in reserve.