A strike that had been due to get under way at 8am on Tuesday morning at the Zenith Energy-owned oil terminal at Whiddy Island, Bantry Bay was deferred on Monday evening to allow new proposals put to the two sides by the Workplace Relations Commission to be considered.
Members of Siptu had last month voted to take industrial action over redundancies and proposed changes to work practices they said would have resulted in cuts to pay for other workers.
Zenith, which bought the terminal in 2015, had sought to cut costs, arguing that the viability of the terminal, which currently employs 31 full-time staff, was at stake due to cuts in revenue it said were associated with high oil prices.
A significant portion of Ireland’s strategic oil reserve is stored at the terminal.
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Talks on the changes had been going on for a number of months before the vote for strike action.
After the two sides met again on Monday, Siptu Sector Organiser, Willie Noone, said that progress had been made on the proposed redundancy terms, an extension of the union’s wider deal with the company and future terms and conditions. The workers will consider the proposals over the coming week.
