THE Minister for Energy, Mr Lowry, has ordered the ESB to implement its £270 million Cost and Competitiveness Review despite a second vote by power station shiftworkers to reject its terms.
His decision followed two hours of talks with the ESB's chairman, Mr Billy McCann, and its chief executive, Mr Joe Moran, yesterday afternoon. They assured him the targets of the CCR could be met although the shiftworkers' ballot showed this key category of workers had rejected the latest terms offered under the CCR by 330 to 240 votes.
The review has been accepted by 95 per cent of the ESB workforce. Immediately after their meeting with the Minister, Mr McCann and Mr Moran attended a special meeting of the ESB board which agreed to begin the implementation.
The most immediate effect for the public will be the introduction of the first rise in electricity prices for 10 years. Details will be published within days and from July domestic consumers can expect to be paying an extra 2.8 per cent - 17p a week on average - for electricity.
The increases will help fund the CCR and the company's investment programme to meet competition in the energy market from 1998.
Meanwhile, a key negotiating committee of the ESB group of unions will be meeting later today to review the situation following the second rejection of the CCR by the shiftworkers. This time the majority against acceptance was 90, compared with 140 two weeks ago.
The other category of workers which initially rejected the CCR, drivers based at the company's Ballycoollin depot in Co Dublin, voted to accept in yesterday's second ballot by 18 votes to 11.
This leaves the shiftworkers as the only category which has not accepted the CCR. However, they are one of the key groups and the full savings from the CCR cannot be achieved without them. The company had warned that the CCR might not go ahead without them.
Last night, however, the significance of the shiftworkers vote was being played down. Management will probably aim at bringing them round over the coming months. In the meantime, the CCR, which allows for 2,000 redundancies and a reduction of £60 million a year in operating costs, will be phased in for the other 59 categories of worker.
Besides the generous severance terms - worth over £100,000 on average for each employee leaving - there will be pay incident equivalent to 8 per cent, £2,000 in lump sums and a 5 per cent shareholding in the company the other 8,600 employees, shiftworkers will not receive benefits and the 200 among who would otherwise be redundant will not be able avail of the severance scheme.
Even without the 600 shiftworkers, the conclusion of the CCR represents a considerable achievement for both management and unions at the ESB Involving 9,200 staff in 60 categories, many of them staffed by workers who are wedded to longstanding work practices and a militant trade union tradition, it is hardly surprising that it took nearly two years to conclude.
And yet it was a deal that had to be done if the ESB is to prepare for competition in the EU energy market from 1998.
Approving its implementation, Mr Lowry said last night the CCR was vital, not only for the of the ESB but the competitiveness of the economy. While he regretted the decision the shiftworkers to reject the CCR, he said he welcomed "the responsible decision by the vast majority of ESB employees to participate in this imaginative and necessary change process.
"It would be totally unacceptable for one minority group to frustrate the CCR agreement, which is one of the most ambitious change management projects undertaken by a State company in Ireland. Categories representing 95 per cent of the workforce should not be prevented from participating in a process which guarantees a future for the ESB."
However, he went on to warn that Government approval for the substantial State investment in the CCR was conditional on annual savings of £57 million being met. This target would have to be achieved even though the shiftworkers had opted out.
Mr Moran said it was critical that the ESB implement the CCR without delay. The company needed to achieve major cost savings as quickly as possible so that it had the financial strength to meet competition.
He stressed that there could be no renegotiation of the CCR's cost savings but he hoped "that, in time, the shift operatives would wish to be party to the CCR". Meanwhile, management will continue to work on a partnership basis with the group of unions to see how the situation with the shift operatives might be resolved".