February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
In the first major industrial action at the electricity supplier since 1991, workers joined picket lines in protest at the use of outside contractors to upgrade the company’s distribution network.
Members of the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers Union held pickets on ESB depots throughout the state. Union bosses said they had been forced to take action after a meeting with management scheduled for Monday was reneged upon.
ESB warned Monday that the strike could impact on repairs and new connection work. It said consumers could expect delays in callouts. However it said yesterday that the number of technicians who had followed union orders to strike remained small and that the company was coping with the situation.
Approximately 3,000 homes were left without power in North Dublin on Monday night after a fault at a power plant in the Fingal area. Power was eventually restored early Tuesday afternoon.
Around 100 members of an ATGWU branch in Dublin opposed the strike and called on the union’s leadership to reengage in talks with management.
However the ATGWU denied that its membership had failed to embrace the strike action.
ESB branch organizer Brendan Ogle described the decision by members of the Dublin south central branch not to carry out pickets as a “small difficulty.”
Said Ogle: “The strike is very, very solid and we are very grateful to our own members and indeed colleagues in other trade unions who have respected the long traditions of workers in ESB by abiding by good trade union practice and not passing pickets.”
The ATGWU represents around 1200 of the 2200 ESB staff technicians. The remaining technicians, represented by SIPTU and TEEU, did not vote for strike action and have called on the ATGWU to meet management for negotiations.
The row centers on an agreement signed in 2001, referred to as “The Pact.”
According to ESB, the agreement allowed for the use of contractors in upgrading work — a claim rejected by the unions.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said the strike action held the potential to damage the “cause of solidarity” amongst workers and called on the union to go into talks.
“There’s no need for industrial action at all in this case. They should try and take a step back and ease the situation,” said Ahern.
“It is entirely unnecessary, unhelpful to the workers themselves, to the organization they work for and to the general public.”