Labour Court supports electricians' pay rise claim

The Labour Court has today recommended that electricians should receive a 4.9 per cent pay increase owed to them, as efforts to end a week long dispute continue.

Both sides in the ongoing dispute between electricians and employers met at the Labour Court today in a bid to resolve the row over pay which has led to more than 10,000 electricians taking industrial action.

The dispute has caused serious disruption to the construction sector and manufacturing industry over the last five days.

The Court has recommended that electricians should be paid the 4.8 per cent increase of €1.05 per hour in two phases.

It suggests that a 2.5 per cent rise should come into effect from September with a 2.4 per cent increase to be introduced from January 1st 2010.

The Labour Court said that it was satisfied that the unions' claim was justified but said the manner and timing of addressing that claim must take full account of the current circumstances of the industry.

It added that the second aspect of the unions' claim for the projected value of the pay review which was due in April 2008 should not be pursued at this time.

The Technical Engineering and Electrical Union (TEEU) tonight welcomed the Labour Court's input and said its executive would be meeting tomorrow morning to discuss the recommendations.

"We welcome the acknowledgement by the Labour Court that our members are entitled to an increase that was frozen from April 2008 and withheld at a time when the sector was still buoyant," said TEEU general secretary designate Eamon Devoy this evening,

"Any decision we make tomorrow will be conditional on how the employers react to the recommendation. We hope that all the employer bodies will act responsibly and accept the outcome, including the appeal from the Court to continue upholding a system that gave us a generation of industrial peace and which can do so again if it is allowed too."

The Labour Court's recommendation is non-binding.