Electricians to ballot on industrial action
Thursday, 19 June 2008 21:40Over 10,000 electricians nationwide are to be balloted for industrial action in a row over pay.
The decision was taken this evening by the Technical Engineering and Electrical Union that represents electricians.
The dispute centres on a High Court challenge to the system of setting electricians' pay that has delayed payment of a wage increase.
Since 1990, employer and union representatives have agreed electricians' wages and conditions in a legally binding Registered Employment Agreement approved by the Labour Court.
However, two new bodies claiming to represent substantial numbers of contractors have said the REA process is unfair.
National Electrical Contractors Ireland and another group of independent contractors say they were not allowed to take part in negotiating the latest 5% pay rise.
But the employers groups who negotiated the deal - the AECI and the ECA - say that they represent contractors employing most electricians.
On Friday, the High Court granted 460 named contractors an injunction preventing the Labour Court from holding a hearing last Monday on the pay rise.
The matter returns to the High Court on 24 June.
In the meantime, the 5% wage increase due to the electricians will not be paid.
The TEEU ballot of its 10,000 members will take a couple of weeks.
If the electrical contractors' challenge to the REA system succeeds, it could affect hundreds of thousands of workers in other sectors, whose wages and conditions are set in the same way.
