4,000 staff who work for Irish Water to be balloted for industrial action on cuts

Up to 4,000 workers providing frontline services for Irish Water are to be balloted for industrial action up to strike over plans to reduce their number by up to 40%.

The local authority workers, members of Siptu, Impact, the Technical, Engineering and Electrical Union and Unite, are holding the ballot over Irish Water’s plans to reduce the number of frontline workers by 1,500 by 2021.

Siptu, which expects to complete its ballot by November 20, said enforcing a reduction would be a breach of a service level agreement.