Talks aimed at resolving the electricians' pay dispute have resumed this evening at the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) after breaking up for the afternoon without resolution.
Electricians and representatives of electrical contractors are holding discussions in a bid to resolve the row that has brought work to a halt on high-profile construction sites around the country.
Those talks adjourned at 1am overnight following 14 hours of discussions before continuing at 11am today. After a break this afternoon, they resumed at 6pm this evening.
Earlier, employers said the 10 per cent pay cut they were looking for from electricians was being dropped from the LRC talks.
The Technical Engineering and Electrical Union (TEEU) welcomed the move but said "significant obstacles" remain to a settlement.
TEEU general secretary Owen Wills said this evening that “external forces are seeking to ensure there is no settlement to the dispute. These elements have been seeking to destabilise the Registered Employment Agreements (REAs) since late 2007.
“As a result they are making a difficult dispute almost impossible to resolve. They range from very senior interests in the construction industry to small contractors, but they share one common objective, dismantling REAs so that they can pursue a race to the bottom unhindered,” he said.
A statement issued by the LRC following the break-up of talks last night said it believed "a reasonable level of compromise by both sides would lead to agreement on the key issue of pay", but added that such compromise was "not available".
This afternoon Eddie Keenan of the Construction Industry Federation (CIF) said: "The issue of workers' pay is not under threat and terms and conditions of the REA (registered employers agreement) will be protected."
Earlier on his way into the talks today, Fergus Frawley of the Electrical Contractors Association, which is affiliated to the CIF said: "We've come back here this morning to resume negotiations for all parties concerned."
The TEEU's Mr Wills said: “There has been very serious engagement between the parties directly and indirectly through the LRC, and a lot of progress has been made in that regard. There are serious issues remaining around the pay issue."
Asked if he was optimistic, he said “I would think that if it was left to the parties inside the room that there is a potential resolution there”
“I think external influences both from the High Court and from the 'race to the bottom group', as I call them, who were campaigning outside here yesterday have a serious effect on the ability to conclude an agreement.”
Jack Hegarty of the Association of Electrical Contractors Ireland (AECI) said: “We’re going in today with a little bit more confidence. We were happy with some of the work we got done yesterday, this is slow teasey work but hopefully we’ll achieve something.”
LRC chief executive Kieran Mulvey spoke with reporters after the talks broke up last night. "We feel that at this stage of the morning that no further progress can be made," he said.
"We've been trying to develop various positions between the parties and we feel that in light of the statements and the views expressed by the parties that we will reconvene with a view towards exploring these further."
Under the REA system, pay cuts of 10 per cent as had been sought by employers could not be introduced without agreement of the union.
Pickets by the TEEU continued today.
IDA Ireland has warned that the industrial action, which has been running for three days, had the potential to damage Ireland’s reputation amid tough conditions in the market for inward investment.
IDA chief executive Barry O’Leary said that Ireland was competing with many other countries for large projects and he noted that some construction projects already under way for big multinationals had already been hit by the strike action. “One should be very, very careful in protecting Ireland’s reputation,” he said. “I’m deeply concerned. If this is not solved soon it will have an impact."
The strike has effectively brought to a halt work on a number of high-profile building projects around the country including the second terminal at Dublin airport and the new Lansdowne Road stadium. Yesterday another large manufacturing company, Irish Distillers, secured a temporary High Court injunction restraining picketing of its plant at Midleton, Co Cork, by the TEEU and others.
The Midleton plant employs about 100 people and produces about 50 million bottles of whiskey per year. Irish Distillers claimed that the picket may seriously affect jobs and operations.
At the start of the talks yesterday the TEEU's secretary general-designate, Eamon Devoy, said that an all-out picket by construction industry unions would be in place by the end of next week if the dispute was not resolved.
He rejected the assertion that his members were seeking a pay rise, claiming “employers were withholding pay from our members for 2007-2008 pay period”. The union is seeking an increase of about 11 per cent which it maintains is due to its members for up to two years.
On Tuesday the Irish Congress of Trade Unions approved an application for an all-out picket in the construction sector and other unions are arranging to ballot members for strike action in support of the electricians.