An unofficial strike at Turlough Hill ESB generating station in County Wicklow as workers break away from union negotiations about overtime rates.
A dispute initially concerning overtime payments has according to trade union officials now got out of control. An unofficial strike is now being staged at Turlough Hill ESB generating station keeping five hundred workers out of a £15 million project for over a week.
Irish welders, who had been trained in Austria, are seeking improved levels of overtime payments. Austrian welders are also employed on the site carrying out extremely specialised work installing a steel lined tunnel through the mountain.
Union officials say that negotiations had been going smoothly until one afternoon something happened and the union was no longer welcome on the site. According to one union official,
The situation at Turlough Hill is now very very ugly and nasty.
The situation has now got out of control and last Saturday night, some offices on the site were deliberately burnt down.
The Construction Industry Federation (CIF) says that the dispute relates to a group of just seven men which could have been resolved through negotiation. The CIF is insisting that the men drop their unofficial strike and return to work.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 17 August 1971. The reporter is John Howard.
