SIPTU members at a Bord na Móna-owned power station in Co Offaly are going ahead with 24-hour industrial action on Monday .
Workers at Edenderry Power voted by a five to one majority for industrial and strike action in February in a continuing dispute over collective bargaining rights.
SIPTU say this dispute is in relation to the Bord na Móna subsidiary refusing to accept that a collective bargaining agreement signed in November 2013 covers members' right to have their basic pay increases negotiated by SIPTU representatives
"The company entered into talks on a pay increase of 3.5% in April 2014. In early 2016, it derailed the process at the Workplace Relations Commission by stating that a collective agreement between the union and management did not cover pay negotiations. This resulted in it claiming that SIPTU representatives did not have a right to represent its members in pay negotiations," John Regan of SIPTU said.
The Union claims workers in Edenderry have not received a pay increase since 2007, even though "they are working for a subsidiary of a semi-State company which has recorded profits of €85 million in the last three years."
