WORD is that negotiations between Telecom management and the Communications' Workers Union on employee shareholdings are reaching the crunch phase. Agreement still appears some way off between the unions' demands for a shareholding and what the Government and the company are prepared to offer.

The Margin understands that the negotiations have decided to desert the normal smoke-filled hotel rooms of central Dublin where such deals are normally stuck. Instead, they gather at the Red Cow Inn Hotel on the Naas Road. Could be the start of a whole new trend.