THE ESB group of unions is supposed to agree today when and how to ballot its 9,400 members on the Cost and Competitiveness Review. The word is that the unions will agree only to disagree and meet again later in the week.
On the face of it, it seems a simple enough problem. They have already agreed to endorse the overall deal and now it is a case of sorting out the details of the ballot.
Unfortunately, in the final phase of frantic negotiations last November, the final negotiating position in some categories was the management's last offer.
While agreement was reached on issues such as the £210 million redundancy package which attracted so much adverse publicity last week, the 2 per cent reduction of superannuation contributions and 5 per cent share holding in the company, there were serious unresolved problems in some work categories most notably day and shift workers in the Powergen business unit.
Few union leaders are happy at the thought of being asked to recommend acceptance of such category deals when those deals represent a final management offer rather than a negotiated settlement. And because of the sheer size and complexity of the ESB, some members of the steering group, which comprises the top five negotiators, had no direct role in these local category deals.
The Government and the ESB have been pressing the steering group, and the ESB union leaderships as a whole, to personally endorse and recommend the deal to the workforce. On the face of it they have a strong case. The CCR is a "partnership" deal to which all sides have contributed in full.
However, full blooded support for the deal would not help the credibility of the ESB union leaders in selling the CCR complete with its 2,000 redundancies to the workforce.
Particularly sceptical are the day and shift workers in the power stations. Two hundred of the 600 shift workers are to be made redundant and 324 of the 702 day workers. The surviving day workers will also lose a substantial amount of their overtime, which averages about a quarter of gross earnings.
Moreover, SIPTU membership in the ESB is largely concentrated in these categories. Its chief negotiator, Mr Jack Nash, has made it clear that SIPTU is very unhappy with the deal. It may even decide against recommending the CCR package as a whole.
This causes enormous problems for the other ESB unions, particularly the ATGWU, which represents the bulk of shift and day workers. Its principal negotiator in the power stations, Mr Denis Rohan, has made it clear that his union has still to agree "any aspect of the CCR".
SIPTU is set to lose nearly a third of its membership in the ESB, while its members believe that the dominant craft unions are being featherbedded.
In Powergen they point to the special buy out of the fitters overtime, while day and shift workers have to settle for the standard compensation available under the CCR.