ESB statement - Position of responsibility

If consumers were bewildered by the reasons behind the threat of an ESB strike, they must be totally befuddled by the latest shenanigans of ESB’s senior management.

While the ESB’s Group of Unions was rightfully criticised for threatening to down tools over what it mistakenly claimed was a gap in its pension fund — despite extensive evidence to the contrary — the ESB management was seen as bastions of sober rationality, insisting that the fund was properly managed and fully funded for future liabilities.

Yesterday, however, a statement on behalf of the ESB threatened to unhinge the agreement by asserting that “no further liabilities will be added to the company’s balance sheet as a consequence of the company pension scheme being treated as a defined benefit scheme”.