Electricians suspend strike after pay rise proposed

THOUSANDS OF electricians go back to work today after a week-long strike, as they await the decision of employers’ bodies on whether to accept a Labour Court recommendation that they receive a €1.05 an hour (4.9 per cent) pay increase.

Hundreds of construction sites will re-open, including the new Lansdowne Road stadium and the new terminal development at Dublin airport and the multi-storey private hospital building at St Vincent’s in Dublin.

The dispute was suspended after the 12-member executive management committee of the Technical Engineering and Electrical Union (TEEU) yesterday recommended that it “be deferred in good faith, pickets lifted and the members return to work pending confirmation of the employers’ acceptance of the Labour Court recommendation”.

TEEU general secretary designate Eamon Devoy said the executive council meeting would meet again on Thursday and he hoped to have the employers’ response by then.

He said, however, that if either or both employers’ bodies rejected the recommendation “then the dispute will be reactivated after the builders’ holiday” which starts on Friday for a fortnight, and an all-out picket would be “vigorously pursued”.

The Construction Industry Federation (CIF) said it “welcomes the decision of the TEEU to allow its members back to work and to get hundreds of construction sites back into operation”.

The Electrical Contractors’ Association (ECA), which represents about 50 major contractors will meet tomorrow to decide on the court’s non-binding proposal that 10,500 electricians receive the 2.5 per cent increase from September 1st and another 2.4 per cent on January 1st, 2010.

Chris Lundy of the Association of Electrical Contractors of Ireland (AECI) said it will ballot its members. He said the outcome “might be a surprise”, because even the executive was divided 50:50 on the issue.

“It is quite a serious situation for us. We have 300 members, about 60 of whom can’t even afford to pay the membership subscriptions.”

He said that one or two contractors had close to 100 employees but the “big majority is between one and 10 employees. It is a very difficult time for them all,” he said.

The National Electrical Contractors of Ireland (NECI), a breakaway employers’ group which is not part of the negotiating process, said it was “in complete dismay of the Labour Court’s recommendations”.

Chief executive Denis Judge, said that “in a judgment on February 29th, 2009, after the longest hearing ever held in the LC, the Labour Court rejected a proposed increase of €1.05.” The economy had substantially worsened since then, he said but now “the Labour Court has recommended a 4.9% increase”.

He added that if the decision was ratified “it is nothing other than a black day for the Irish industry”, where the black market would thrive and dole queues will increase. The association’s members would be balloted on the issue.

Mr Devoy said that it was irrelevant what Mr Judge’s “outfit” decided because they too would have to adhere to the agreement.

Earlier this year the NECI began a legal action against the electricians’ payment process because it was not party to the negotiations.

Those involved in the talks have asked Tánaiste Mary Coughlan to examine the issues giving rise to the dispute, and the Labour Relations Commission is expected to carry this out.

The Labour Court’s recommendations include an adherence by all parties to the registered employment agreement and a review of the agreement within four months.

Fine Gael enterprise spokesman Leo Varadkar said the “stakes are high” and there was a “small breathing space in which all three employers’ groups and the TEEU can negotiate a new registered employment agreement which reflects changed economic times”.

Under an agreed process electricians’ pay is decided annually against comparable employment in 16 other sectors. The TEEU claimed its employees were due 11.3 per cent, 4.9 per cent from April 1st, 2008, and another 6.4 per cent from April 1st, 2009.

The Labour Court has recommended that the 4.9 per cent increase be implemented first.

If the employers agree, an application will be made for a “variation order” and the Labour Court will set a date to hear the application, likely in early September. Groups such as the NECI are expected to attend.