Striking workers from the Turkish construction firm, Gama, have voted unanimously to reject proposals for a return to work brokered at the Labour Relations Commission yesterday.
The SIPTU National Industrial Secretary, Noel Dowling, says the men have an absolute and complete distrust of the company.
Mr Dowling said the men feared that if their group of 85 was broken up by returning to work at the various Gama sites around Ireland, it would be easier for them to be subjected to intimidation to give up their claim for unpaid overtime.
The Socialist Party TD, Joe Higgins, said it was incumbent upon the State to put in place a mechanism to investigate the men's claims within days, not weeks.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Labour Court has invited both sides to separate meetings with the court tomorrow afternoon, with a view to arranging a formal investigation into the dispute at the earliest opportunity.
The court has the power to hold an investigation with or without the participation of management and issue a recommendation.
However, that recommendation would not be binding.
The workers have been on strike for seven weeks in a dispute centring on pay and overtime.
The proposals had envisaged the workers returning to work immediately.
The LRC had received undertakings from Gama management that the workers would get detailed payslips, appropriate rates of pay and a proper system for recording hours worked.
Their return to work would have in turn permitted substantive talks on the pay issues which were planned to get under way later this week.
