Breakaway ESB union calls off strike

The ESB Officers’ Association (ESBOA) has withdrawn is plans to go on strike from next Monday.

The move follows a proposal from the National Implementation Body that a long-running dispute at ESB be referred to the Labour Court.

The dispute centres around workers’ demands for an 18.5% pay increase and a 20% shareholding in the company. They were also concerned over a €510m deficit in the pension fund.

The ESB group of unions has voted in favour of strike action over the matter, but the ESBOA was the only union to issue formal strike notice.

The other unions agreed to hold off on strike action pending talks this week aimed at resolving the dispute.

ESBOA general secretary Tony Dunne said the union had deferred strike action as the Labout Court would be capable of addressing all outstanding issues.

The ESB unions are to meet with the Labour Court next week to discuss the terms of the talks, and choose a person experienced in industrial relations to broker them.

Mr Dunne said: “We believe we can provide a mechanism which will lead off all of the outstanding issues on which negotiations broke down a short while ago. All of the unions are involved.”

He said this is just the start of a lengthy process which will probably stretch into September.

“We are pleased this is a way of moving the thing forwards, no-one wants a dispute, we didn’t,” Mr Dunne said.

“This will address all outstanding issues and we have taken it very seriously.”

Workers’ representatives followed the National Implementation Body’s recommendations to take the dispute to the Labour Court.

The court will hear both sides in the dispute and issue recommendations setting out its opinion on the problem and the terms on which it should be resolved.

The recommendations are not binding but the proposals are generally taken seriously by the parties involved.

The ESBOA had served strike notice on the company several weeks ago, which was due to expire on Monday next, after talks between management and unions broke down over a new pay agreement.