The High Court has granted an injunction preventing the Labour Court from holding a hearing tomorrow on a pay rise for over 10,000 electricians.
It is understood that the injunction was secured by a new group of electrical contractors who are challenging the current system of negotiating pay and conditions for their employees.
Observers fear that if this challenge is successful, it could have implications for hundreds of thousands of workers in other sectors, whose wages and conditions are set under the same system of Registered Employment Agreements.
Until this row is resolved, electricians employed in the sector will not receive their 5% planned wage increase.
There are over 5,000 electrical contractors in Ireland employing over 10,000 electricians.
Traditionally, employer and union representatives agreed the electricians’ wages 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 flawed and unfair.
National Electrical Contractors Ireland and another group of independent contractors say they were not allowed to take part in negotiating the latest pay rise, which would increase the hourly rate for electricians by €1.05 hour to €22.54.
However, the employers' groups who negotiated the deal, the Association of Electrical Contractors in Ireland and the Electrical Contractors' Association, say that they represent the contractors who employ the vast majority of electricians and who do the vast majority of electrical business in the State.
It is understood that the injunction sought by the contractors opposing the REA was granted by Mr Justice Paul Carney on Friday evening and the matter is due back in court.
