Electricians vow to keep up strike action

Striking electricians tonight vowed to keep up their damaging all-out stoppage as union leaders agreed to re-enter talks with employers over a bitter pay row.

The Government stopped short of forcing the two sides to negotiate but Tánaiste Mary Coughlan said one of state’s industrial relations bodies had been ordered to call them back in.

Eamon Devoy, the Technical Engineering and Electrical Union general secretary, agreed to the talks by calling for a meaningful offer from employers.

“We are doing so out of deference to the Tanaiste and in the public interest,” he said.

“We are willing to engage in meaningful talks with the employers. However for these to take place will require the employers putting a meaningful offer on the table, which has not happened to date.”

The dispute had appeared to seriously deepen before the Government intervened after an on air row between Mr Devoy and Construction Industry Federation boss Tom Parlon who branded striking workers lunatics.

“This thing is so serious that we can’t afford to let the lunatics be in charge, we have to sit down. I would call on whatever sane counsel that is there to come forward at the moment,” the construction chief said.

The two sides will meet at the Labour Relations Commission for the third time tomorrow in an attempt to resolve the long-running row over pay rises.

Scores of building sites from townhouses to the country’s biggest projects have been virtually paralysed for the last two days as angry electricians formed pickets. Corrib gas, Dublin Airport’s Terminal 2 and Lansdowne Road were just two of the flagship sites hit while Guinness and Cadbury went to court to move pickets from their front gates.

The TEEU has claimed massive support from other unions including Siptu and Unite and also called for Congress to back a nationwide strike in solidarity.

They are seeking a €2.49-an-hour pay rise on standard wages of €21.49 an hour.

Employer groups, the CIF and the Electrical Contractors Association, warned of job losses if sites cannot operate at full scale.

Labour leader Eamon Gilmore called on the Government to intervene and said under the Industrial Relations Act officials could order the Labour Court as well as the Labour Relations Commission to step in.

The legislation allows for an intervention if the strike affects the public interest.

In the Dail the Tanaiste said she would not be using special powers to force both sides of the row together but ordered the Labour Relations Commission to issue invites.

“In view of the seriousness of the situation and the impact on the economy I have requested the Labour Relations Commission to recall the parties as soon as possible with a view to an early resolution of the dispute,” she said.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen claimed the strike, which hit the country’s flagship construction projects like and Corrib Gas Project, had the potential to damage Ireland’s economy.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen ruled out using special powers to force both sides of the dispute together for the meantime.

“It seems to me that this is the kind of dispute for which those types of power were envisaged,” said Mr Gilmore.