ONE OF the country’s largest trade unions, Unite, has said that ballots in the private sector on the planned nationwide day of strikes scheduled for Monday week are in general “on a knife edge”, with workers in some cases voting not to take part.
Unite last night announced that its members would be going on strike for the day at New Ireland Assurance, the first large private sector company where such action has been confirmed. Unite has 60,000 members in the Republic and represents workers in both the public and private sectors, including those in finance, manufacturing and energy.
A spokesman for Unite said that in many company ballots the result had been a close call and that in some cases workers had decided not to take part. Unite has not disclosed details of the number of workplaces where members voted against participation. It is to announce further details of where strikes will take place.
Tens of thousands of teachers, nurses and other public sector workers have already voted to join in the day of protest organised by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu). However, the scale of participation in the private sector has not been clear up to now.
A spokesman for Unite said that there was “real tension” in workplaces on the best way to move.
The result of a ballot of members in the largest public sector union, Impact, was said to be close last night. Under Impact rules a two-thirds majority is needed. The result will be announced on Monday.
The Ictu action aimed to involve employers who had either not met the terms of the national pay deal agreed last autumn, put alternative arrangements in place, or engaged in a “process” on the increases.
It has said hundreds of thousands of union members are not covered by any national pay deal, given that the Government and employers’ body Ibec have walked away from the recent agreement while the Construction Industry Federation has not taken part at all.
Senior union figures have been engaged in informal contacts with Government representatives on re-engaging in talks on a national recovery plan but so far no agreement has been reached.
Employers have strongly criticised the planned strikes as “entirely inappropriate and unacceptable” and warned that staff taking part will have pay docked and could face disciplinary action.
The private sector committee of Ictu is to meet on Monday. Under legislation unions will have to serve strike notice on employers by Monday if their members are to strike on March 30th.
Siptu, the largest union, said it would be serving strike notice on individual companies where ballots had been carried on Monday. The union is to announce aggregate results for the ballots later next week. It has not revealed details so far of which companies will be affected.
Yesterday the Irish Federation of University Teachers said that its members had voted by a substantial majority to participate in the work stoppage. Three other teaching unions, the INTO, the ASTI and the TUI, have already voted to support the action in moves which are likely to close thousands of schools. Health sector unions will meet the HSE on Monday to discuss arrangements in hospitals and other facilities.
Unite said that its members at New Ireland Assurance, which is owned by Bank of Ireland, had voted overwhelmingly to take part in the strike action. It said that the company had not engaged meaningfully in discussions on the pay deal.
New Ireland Assurance rejected this claim. It said it was disappointed the union had gone to ballot and it was under the impression that talks were ongoing. The company argued that the union action was “pre-emptive” as a pay review was not due until next month.
