Workers will persist in their pursuit of fair play - solicitor

The 163 staff at Golden Pages will continue their legal action against Telecom Eireann in a bid to be part of its Employee Share Option Scheme, according to the solicitor representing the group.

Mr Peter McDonnell insisted yesterday there was no reason why Golden Pages staff should be excluded from the scheme.

Speaking after the group withdrew its application for a High Court injunction to block the flotation, Mr McDonnell accused the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, of "arbitrary discrimination" against the workers.

"The Minister has trampled on the rights of some of the workers who made Telecom Eireann the company it is today," he said.

Mr McDonnell also stated that Telecom Eireann would now have to withdraw its flotation prospectus and amend it to reflect the outstanding legal action that is pending.

A Telecom spokeswoman Eireann dismissed this suggestion.

Under the rules of the stock exchange, Telecom Eireann is required to disclose any legal or other action against the company that could affect its financial position. The spokeswoman insisted this action did not meet those requirements.

Under the terms of the share option scheme, Telecom's 20,000 employees can take up share options over 14.9 per cent of the group's total shares. Some industry sources have suggested that even if the Golden Pages action is successful, Telecom would not have to find any additional resources to satisfy this claim.

Golden Pages staff together with those employed at six other Telecom Eireann subsidiaries - Cablelink, Eirpage, Broadcom Eireann Research, Accuris, Apion and Nua - do not qualify for the scheme because Telecom does not own 100 per cent of these groups.

Mr McDonnell said he had been approached by employees in the other subsidiaries wishing to join the Golden Pages staff in their action against Telecom. Golden Pages is 63 per cent owned by Telecom and 37 per cent owned by the Dutch publishing company, VNU. It employs 260 in Dublin.

Eireann Telecom's flotation prospectus discloses that Golden Pages had turnover of £30.8 million (€39.1 million) in the year to December 1998. Golden Pages distributed 21 million copies of the classified telephone directory last year as well as 8,000 CD-ROM directories.