THE ESB group of unions meets today to decide if it will endorse she company's £250 million restructuring plan. It had been expected that approval would be a formality but there are strong indications that SIPTU will oppose the deal.
Numerically, SIPTU is one of the smallest unions in the ESB with just over 700 members but it feels it has been given the poorest deal. It will face significant redundancies in the power stations and the SIPTU grade in the network teams that supply power to people's homes is to be eliminated. In other words, there is no future for the union at the ESB under the terms of the Cost band Competitiveness Review (CCR).
The fundamental problem is that the CCR is a package, designed to suit the craft unions, which have traditionally dominated the ESB. The company and the majority of its unions have opted to manage change by enhancing the role of craft workers. A good example is the network technician, which is a new grade combining the old ones of electrician, linesman and general operative. Effectively, all existing staff will become multi skilled and will be upgraded to the electricians' level.
SIPTU was holding out for the retention of a fixed number of general operatives, including a commitment to recruit extra general operatives if necessary, to maintain numbers. ESB management refused to concede SIPTU's demand.
With only 130 members out of the 2,800 people affected by the change to network technician, SIPTU is fairly irrelevant to this sector. But it has considerably more members among workers in the power stations, especially Money point, where nearly half of the day workers are in SIPTU.
However, there is no category of workers in the ESB where SIPTU has a majority. They have only 193 members out of the 716 day workers in the power stations and 134 out of 600 shift workers.
Most of the rest are in the ATGWU, which has accepted the outcome of the CCR negotiations. But numbers themselves will not allay the fears of the other unions about the damage a dissident SIPTU could do.
The ESB group of unions needs to present a united front if it is to ensure its members accept the terms on offer.