Electricians’ union ballot may spark strike at ESB this autumn

STRIKE action at ESB has moved a step closer this week after the key electricians’ union started a vote for industrial action in a row over pay rises and lower pay for new recruits.

The union’s general secretary, Eamon Devoy has warned ESB management that his union will not accept an aggregate vote with rival trade unions in the ‘ESB Group of Unions’ which negotiates on pay and conditions.

Power cuts in the autumn are increasingly likely after the Technical Electrical and Engineering Union engaged in a dispute over a new pay deal in the ESB. Its members have the power to shut down gas and oilpowered generating plants and cut power supply to many homes and businesses.

The union has rejected pay proposals by an 85% majority and is gearing up for a dispute over ‘lower-paid’ new recruits.

More than four out of five TEEU members voted to reject a pay recommendation of 5.5% over two and a half years with a lump sum of €2,750 on top of a 2% pay rise last year.

At the heart of the row is the recruitment since 2014 of 250 craft workers on lower pay terms. The pay deal includes a clause that ‘all new entrants will be in the new model pay bands’.

TEEU leaders have already discussed strike tactics and the final decision will not be taken until the new general secretary, Paddy Kavanagh, takes over from Mr Devoy next month.

The pay offer for all of ESB’s 6,000 employees was subject to a recent ‘clarification phase’ when mediator Janet Hughes agreed to facilitate talks between the ESB management and its group of unions.

While rival unions like Siptu and the ATGWU are expected to accept the offer, the TEEU signalled its displeasure when Mr Devoy described the power company’s response to clarifications sought by his union as ‘contemptuous and will in all probability guarantee an outright rejection of the proposals’.

The ESB’s position is that the company answered all questions asked of it. Management felt that there was no indication from the TEEU, at that stage, that serious issues remained.