An ESB worker-director has called on the company to give employees a 14.9 per cent share in the company.
Mr Joe LaCumbre of the TEEU has warned the company that the workforce will not give the productivity necessary to ensure survival in a competitive market without greater incentives. He has also predicted that significantly more redundancies will be sought than the 2,000 already agreed under the Cost and Competitiveness Review.
Changes agreed in principle under the £270 million CCR last year are still being negotiated relatively slowly. The deadlock in talks on a new grade to replace instrumentation technicians is already threatening the future viability of the ageing Ferbane power station and more than 300 jobs in the west midlands.
New initiatives to resume talks on the future of Ferbane are expected today or tomorrow.
Mr LaCumbre, who was speaking at a meeting of senior TEEU shop stewards in Dublin yesterday, refused to comment on the situation in Ferbane. He said it was a matter to be dealt with through procedures and he still hoped a resolution could be found.
However, he did say it was one of many instances where radical change was needed in the company.
He called for immediate tripartite discussions between the company, the Government and the unions on an employee share option scheme similar to that in Telecom Eireann.
Mr LaCumbre said the ESB would soon be facing competition for a third of its present business. While the ESB board and management were well aware of the implications of competition, he felt that "there has been almost a total deficit in terms of the impact of deregulation being discussed with staff.
"While nobody wants to admit the fact, without further change the ESB will not be able for the challenge and for the devastation that private generation can inflict on our company. Apart from the new Poolbeg units in Dublin the youngest power station in the country is Moneypoint, 15 years old," he said.
"How does a 15-, 20- or, as in the case of the midlands stations, a 35-year-old station compete with a modern state-of-the-art gasfired station? The answer is obvious and we should `cut to the chase'.
"Recent demands on midland power stations listing even more redundancies than occurred under the CCR agreement, on a `take it or leave it basis', will not be responded to positively by staff.
"The same scenario and demands will be made on the rest of the stations in the near future, I have no doubt, and will be responded to in a similar manner."
The £270 million CCR incorporated significant changes in work practices and the shedding of more than 2,000 jobs. The compensation package included a 5 per cent shareholding for employees, to be funded largely from the company's operating profits. The transfer of those shares is still the subject of negotiation.