Workers at a number of construction sites around the country have gone on strike on Friday in a dispute over travel time payments with contractors.
Pickets were placed this morning at six locations where construction work is in progress including Diageo in Dublin, Intel in Leixlip and the Analog plant in Limerick.
Plumbers, fitters and welders who are members of the Unite trade union say they want the restoration of payments they previously received in relation to a portion of their travel time to and from jobs.
If restored, the payments would be worth about 12 per cent of pay to the workers.
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The union says an agreement on incorporating the payment into wages was supposed to be reviewed after a period but this has never happened.
“It’s hard to put an exact number on it, but there about 100 members on pickets this morning and 22 contractors directly impacted, I think,” said senior Unite organiser Tom Fitzgerald.
“We’ve had great support with some other workers staying away from jobs and some contractors have moved work from the day. From our point of view it’s been going well.”
There has been no renewed engagement with the employers’ group in the lead-up to this strike, which is part of a long-running dispute that has previously involved stoppages and court action by members of the Mechanical and Electrical Contractors’ Association (Mebsca).
The two sides met on August 26th, but the meeting broke down without any sign of agreement.
“We’ve targeted certain sites this week and we will look to target others next week. We see this going on for weeks until eventually we get talks and there is some sort of breakthrough,” Mr Fitzgerald said.
Mebsca has said it is “extremely disappointed that its members are yet again being targeted by Unite for additional increases in pay. It is only eight months since Mebsca entered into an agreement with Unite, which will yield pay increases for Unite members of 12.8 per cent”.
“Mebsca members pay a travel allowance on top of pay. An agreement was entered into with Unite at the Workplace Relations Commission in 2011, which incorporated the first hour of travel into hourly rates.
“This agreement had the effect of increasing the hourly rate which also resulted in a higher rate being paid for overtime and holidays. Unite is now seeking to maintain the higher rate of pay while also seeking to reverse the agreement that was freely entered into by Unite at that time.”
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