Trinity Ball safe as builders lift pickets

The annual Trinity Ball will go ahead on Friday after builders lifted a picket blockading the college this afternoon.

More than 50 workers began the picket today in a protest at the increasing use of agency staff in the industry.

Dublin Alliance of General Construction Workers chairman Mr Paul Hanford said agencies do not pay pensions or sick leave and said there were cases where less-than-agreed rates were paid.

Two projects in Trinity College, Dublin, and a site at the National Library were picketed today.

Mr Mick Finnegan of SIPTU said while the strike action was not an official union action the rapid rise in the number of agency staff was causing a serious problem.

"In the last three years the number of agency staff has risen from 3 per cent to 25 per cent. Agencies are also bringing in workers from outside the EU and many of these workers would not have the required level of safety training," he said.

But a construction company spokesperson denied that agency staff were treated differently from permanent staff. "We have a mix of agency and full-time staff like any builders' company," he said.

He said today’s pickets were placed without warning and by staff from other sites.

Mr Hanford said today’s action was the start of a series of rolling one-day strikes that would focus on public projects, with Dublin Airport and Dáil Eireann as future targets.