CIF warns of end to talks if disputes at sites continue

The Construction Industry Federation has warned that national pay talks with the Building and Allied Trades Union will be cancelled…

The Construction Industry Federation has warned that national pay talks with the Building and Allied Trades Union will be cancelled on Friday unless the union ends unofficial action on Dublin sites. The federation has advised members to lay off the strikers.

BATU, which represents 8,000 bricklayers and carpenters, has given a low-key response to the threat. Its general secretary, Mr Paddy O'Shaughnessy, said only two contractors, Sisk and P.J. Hegarty, were affected by the unofficial action. The Hegarty dispute is over pensions, and Mr O'Shaughnessy said he had received confirmation yesterday that the contributions were up to date. However, picketers are understood to be seeking compensation for their lost earnings while on strike.

The Sisk dispute is over a pay claim for £1,000 for a 39-hour week. Again Mr O'Shaughnessy said this was a local dispute. Publicity given to it by the CIF was creating a general expectation among building workers of significant pay rises.

"I don't know what good it will do removing people from the payroll. I haven't closed the door on a meeting on Friday," he said.

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He expressed surprise that the CIF director-general, Mr Liam Kelleher, had written to the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, complaining that BATU was in breach of the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness and calling on the National Implementation Body to intervene.

"Nobody mentioned the PPF to us in two months of negotiations. The fact that some of our members are picketing unofficially doesn't mean we're in breach of the PPF, and we haven't served a claim for £1,000 a week yet," Mr O'Shaughnessy said.

Mr Kelleher said builders had a legitimate concern. "We all know BATU is a difficult union to do business with, and we feel that while this unofficial action is on, we can't talk about pay."

BATU members needed to adopt a more positive approach to problems. "The CIF has no problem with high pay for high productivity, but it is not prepared to pay £1,000 a week for simply coming into work," Mr Kelleher said.

He had never seen his members so determined to take a stand. "Construction is no longer, if it ever was, a low-cost industry, but high costs need high productivity to justify the money being spent."

It was time for "stability and predictability to be restored". BATU members were in danger of pricing themselves out of a job, he said.