The ESB faces imminent strike threats from SIPTU and the ESB Officers Association (ESBOA), which are both seeking pay rises of 28 per cent. SIPTU is concluding a strike ballot of members today and branch secretary Mr Tony Dunne says he expects to serve 14 days strike notice early next week.
The general secretary of the ESBOA, Mr Willie Cremins, said that unless significant progress is made in talks with management over "the next few days", the union will invoke a strike mandate given by its 2,000 members last October. In that case, the two unions may co-ordinate industrial action.
The most immediate threat comes from SIPTU. Although it only has 550 members in the ESB, they are scattered across many categories ranging from shift workers in power stations to network technicians and catering staff.
There is a long-standing reluctance within the ESB to pass pickets. But even without such solidarity, SIPTU has the capacity to close the 950 MW station at Moneypoint, the two stations at Poolbeg (which generate more than 1,000 MWs) and disrupt generation at a number of other stations.
Normally, the SIPTU claim would go to the ESB's Joint Industrial Council for resolution but Mr Dunne said the mood of members is such that they feel talks on pay - and the related restructuring of the Programme for Action on Competitiveness and Transparency (PACT) - have dragged on too long.
