Hospitals, refuse collection, water, sanitary and other services face serious disruption because of threatened strike action by 34,000 manual workers in the health boards and local authorities.
Householders in Dublin city and county will be less affected as general operatives in the four Dublin local authorities are not involved in the dispute.
Some 4,000 craftworkers have voted by 20 to one for strike action from May 11th in support of a long-standing £25a-week pay claim. A further 30,000 SIPTU members who are entitled to 80 per cent of any award conceded to the craftworkers have also voted for strike action.
The secretary of the craftworkers' group, Mr Finbarr Maguire, said last night it would be putting in place "a code of conduct and also guidelines in respect of dealing with emergencies".
Mr Sean O Lanagain, chief executive of the Local Government Management Services Board, said management had accepted a Labour Court recommendation for an £18.87p a week increase. Local authorities and health services had been willing to discuss implementation in a flexible way, but unions would not move from their bottom line of £25.26p.
The craft claim is based on an analogue agreement made in 1979, under which pay rates in health boards and local authorities are pegged to a "basket" of pay rates from 18 companies in the private and semi-state sectors.