Temporary injunctions secured by a number of companies restraining pickets in support of the electricians' dispute are to remain in place until later this month, the High Court has decided.
Diageo, Irish Distillers and Cadbury Ireland were among a number of companies that secured the orders on various dates this month.
Counsel for the electricians union, the TEEU, told Mr Jutice Brian McGovern today the union had suspended the strike and was awaiting the decision of employers on the settlement terms.
Tom Mallon, for Diageo, expressed concern the dispute might be reactivated and asked that the interim orders be continued until a specified adjournment date.
Mr Justice McGovern agreed to continue the temporary orders to July 24th.
Thousands of electricians returned to work today after a week-long strike, as they await the decision of employers’ bodies on whether to accept a Labour Court recommendation that they receive a €1.05 an hour (4.9 per cent) pay increase.
Chris Lundy, executive secretary of Association of Electrical Contractors of Ireland (AECI), said this morning he was relieved at the ending of the strike, but he warned the contents of the Labour Court recommendation had "serious implications" for electrical contractors.
"Our submission to the Labour Court was the fact that we asked the court not to grant an [pay] increase . . . at this time of unparallelled economic meltdown," he said on RTÉ radio.
"We have a meeting coming up this evening with the executive committee of the Association of Electrical Contractors . . . and the procedures then will be followed to ballot all members, and there is no doubt there will be mixed feelings out there."
Mr Lundy refused to be drawn on whether he would be recommending the Labour Court decision to his members, however, saying: "We'll watch this with interest . . . because this is swayed one way and the other each time you talk to someone."
Speaking yesterday, he said the outcome “might be a surprise”, because even the executive was divided 50:50 on the issue. “It is quite a serious situation for us. We have 300 members, about 60 of whom can’t even afford to pay the membership subscriptions.”
He said one or two contractors had close to 100 employees but the “big majority is between one and 10 employees. It is a very difficult time for them all,” he said.
The Electrical Contractors’ Association (ECA), which represents about 50 major contractors will meet tomorrow to decide on the court’s non-binding proposal that 10,500 electricians receive the 2.5 per cent increase from September 1st and another 2.4 per cent on January 1st, 2010.
The National Electrical Contractors of Ireland (NECI), a breakaway employers’ group which is not part of the negotiating process, said it was “in complete dismay of the Labour Court’s recommendations”.
Hundreds of construction sites will re-open, including the new Lansdowne Road stadium and the new terminal development at Dublin airport and the multi-storey private hospital building at St Vincent’s in Dublin.
The dispute was suspended after the 12-member executive management committee of the Technical Engineering and Electrical Union (TEEU) yesterday recommended that it “be deferred in good faith, pickets lifted and the members return to work pending confirmation of the employers’ acceptance of the Labour Court recommendation”.
TEEU general secretary designate Eamon Devoy said the executive council meeting would meet again on Thursday and he hoped to have the employers’ response by then.
He said, however, that if either or both employers’ bodies rejected the recommendation “then the dispute will be reactivated after the builders’ holiday” which starts on Friday for a fortnight, and an all-out picket would be “vigorously pursued”.
The Construction Industry Federation (CIF) said it “welcomes the decision of the TEEU to allow its members back to work and to get hundreds of construction sites back into operation”.
The Labour Court’s recommendations include an adherence by all parties to the registered employment agreement and a review of the agreement within four months.
Under an agreed process electricians’ pay is decided annually against comparable employment in 16 other sectors. The TEEU claimed its employees were due 11.3 per cent, 4.9 per cent from April 1st, 2008, and another 6.4 per cent from April 1st, 2009.
The Labour Court has recommended that the 4.9 per cent increase be implemented first.
If the employers agree, an application will be made for a “variation order” and the Labour Court will set a date to hear the application, likely in early September. Groups such as the NECI are expected to attend.