TEEU accepts invitation to talks at Labour Relations Commission today (Thursday 2nd July) in effort to avert strike by 10,500 electricians.
The Technical Engineering and Electrical Union has agreed to attend talks at the Labour Relations Commission today (Thursday 2nd July) at 11am. It has served strike notice for July 6th on behalf of 10,500 members in the electrical contracting industry. If it goes ahead the strike could significantly affect the energy, manufacturing, construction and other sectors of the economy.
Welcoming the intervention of the LRC last night, TEEU General Secretary Designate Eamon Devoy said, "Nobody wants a major dispute but it is completely unacceptable for employers to walk away from their responsibilities to employees who have not had a pay rise since April 2006. Other workers in comparable employments have received increases of between ten per cent and 15 per cent over the same period.
"The employer bodies are completely misrepresenting our claim as a pay rise of over 11 per cent but omit to mention the fact that our members have received no increase for three years. Employers want to cut rates by ten per cent. They are in clear breach of the Electrical Industry's Joint Industrial Council Agreement that has traditionally set rates under agreed procedures and want to drive down working conditions as well.
"The union met with the employer bodies on four separate occasions and they refused to engage with us on the terms recommended by the Labour Court. Besides pay cuts the employers and poorer working conditions, employers want to cut apprentices pay and allow unqualified employees to carry out electrical work. These measures would lead to serious deskilling of the workforce, with long term implications for the economy and consumers, as well as people working in the electrical contracting sector, if allowed to go ahead.
"The employers attack on our members living standards has been accompanied by a massive campaign of misinformation which has totally misrepresented the issues at stake. We welcome the opportunity tomorrow to put the facts before the LRC and set the record straight."
