The Irish Lift Contractors' Association is meeting today to discuss renewed industrial action by electricians at Schindler Lifts.
This is the second strike to occur within two weeks of the settlement of the national lift strike and there is now a serious risk that a second national dispute could take place.
It could also disrupt repair work on the backlog of broken lifts, which has still not been cleared since the end of the recent 11week strike. Schindler services a range of commercial, institutional and public sector clients.
Repair services for the Ballymun complex in Dublin are not involved, as the contractor concerned, Pickerings, has not yet been affected by the new series of disputes.
The lift contractors' association was set up on September 29th, as a direct response by employers to the national strike by members of the Technical Engineering and Electrical Union in pursuit of significant pay increases.
Today will be the association's first working meeting and it had originally been scheduled to discuss the agenda for the new industrial forum, a joint union-employer body which is being established as part of the settlement formula of the national dispute. However, discussions are now expected to be dominated by the strike at Schindler.
Last week the largest lift contractor in the Republic, Otis, agreed to accept the TEEU's interpretation of the return to work formula after its electricians went on strike for two weeks.
TEEU official Mr Dan Miller said yesterday that industrial action at Schindler was due to similar difficulties.
The most important issue in dispute is the calculation of retrospection, or back money, involved in implementing new pay rates. The TEEU is demanding that this be calculated on the basis of a benchmark rate of £11.14p an hour, while the company has offered to pay retrospection based on a rate of £9.75p an hour.
Mr Miller said the strike would continue until the company agreed to pay retrospection at the appropriate rate. Other outstanding issues could be referred to the forum. The managing director of Schindler, Mr Kieran Duffy, said the company had written to the TEEU seeking clarification of how the union arrived at its figures for retrospection. Mr Duffy, who is also chairman of the contractors' association, says there is growing concern in the industry "at what happened to Otis and what is now happening to us".
However, he declined to speculate on what stance the ILCA would take before today's meeting.