Bord na Mona staff plan strike

The first all-out strike by the 2,000 strong workforce at Bord na Mona is to begin next month, it emerged tonight.

The Bord na Mona group of unions met with management today to inform them of the one-day strike on November 1.

A second strike will be held a week later on November 8.

Union spokesman Adrian Kane said the company had refused to pay the second half of a 6% pay increase.

“There’s no workforce that has given more in productivity over the last number of years. We have fulfilled our obligations,” he said.

Last Monday, 89% of Bord na Mona workers voted in favour of strike action.

Bord na Mona withheld the pay increase last month on the basis that productivity commitments had not been met.

Bord na Mona supplies peat to power stations and also produces products like briquettes and compost. It owns more than 85,000 hectares of peatland and has an annual turnover of €250m.

The strike is not expected to disrupt electricity supplies but it may delay the opening of two new peat-burning power stations in Longford and Offaly next month.

Mr Kane said the company’s failure to pay the increase was regrettable.

“This is not a militant workforce. We have never had an all-out strike in Bord na Mona since its foundation in 1948,” he said.