ESB workers to strike on Monday

A strike by ESB workers is set to go ahead on Monday.

Talks between management and the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers Union (ATGWU) broke down this afternoon.

The row centres on the role of outside contractors, and the effect of this on apprentices.

The dispute has highlighted stark differences between the unions, with the Technical, Engineering and Electrical Union asking their members to pass the picket on Monday morning.

Speaking on his way out of the talks, ATGWU spokesperson Brendan Ogle expressed his disappointment with the stance taken by other unions: "I've always been opposed to anti trade union Thatcherite practices and I would be very disappointed that the Irish trade union movement has sunk so low as to effectively offer black labour in defiance of an official trade dispute."