Union leaders urged to stop electricians' strike

Builders’ chiefs today pleaded for trade union leaders to call off a potentially crippling strike by electricians.

The Technical Engineering and Electrical Union (TEEU) warned a walk-out of its 10,500 members over a pay claim would hit the economy and severely damage flagship construction projects.

But Tom Parlon, Construction Industry Federation (CIF) chief, has written to the union in a bid to get the strike threat lifted.

“I take it for granted that the TEEU shares our agenda to protect jobs so I find it all the more difficult to understand why your union would undertake strike action at this time and jeopardise the active sites and the jobs that remain in construction,” the CIF chief said.

Among the high-profile sites at risk of a walk-out are Terminal 2 at Dublin Airport, Lansdowne Road, the Corrib gas project in Mayo and the new Intel development in Co Kildare.

Mr Parlon said a strike would be hugely damaging for Ireland’s industry and economic reputation.

“TEEU seems to be making a virtue about the scale of the impact that this strike will have not just on construction but on the wider economy, including through the most regrettable targeting of our multi-national investment sector,” he said.

“This is at a time when the IMF has found that Ireland is losing foreign direct investment at a pace unprecedented in any other economy.”

The CIF said the potential damage to the economy could not be measured.

“Strike action on Monday will do untold damage to our industry, our economy and the perception of Ireland’s attractiveness as a place in which to invest and work,” Mr Parlon added.

The TEEU are trying to secure a wage increase the union claims is owed to workers. It would lift an electrician’s hourly rate by 11% from €21.49 to €23.98 an hour.

The Electrical Contractors Association said on Wednesday that firms were not able to pay the increase.

Efforts to find a resolution at the Labour Relations Commission did not pass the first hurdle with officials insisting there appeared to be no room for compromise.

TEEU general secretary designate Eamon Devoy has said the union would remain open for talks but he later warned that a strike planned for Monday appeared inevitable.

The CIF letter was sent to TEEU general secretary Owen Wills and to Congress general secretary David Begg, Ibec director general Danny McCoy and senior civil servant Dermot McCarthy.