Sir, - Perhaps the power station shop stewards have dissented from the ESB re organisation plan (March 16th) for reasons of local detail rather than general principle. Either way it is a relief to see that we will not be shepherded down this ruinous road without a murmur of discontent. Will anyone in the trade unions now clearly call "stop" to the spending of about £200 million on the destruction of about 2,000 well paid, decent, unionised jobs? Can no one see the glaring contradiction between all the talk about job creation and the long term unemployed and this massive investment in job deletion?
The deal cannot even be defended on the grounds of benefit to the consumer: a price increase for the small user is already in the pipeline! Yet not only is the deal endorsed by the unions, it is the product of a joint process, the Cost and Competitiveness Review, with avid participation at the highest trade union level.
The lotto type sums available to those selling their jobs lose their gleam when placed beside the new conditions of those left behind to cover the gaps, the downward spiral they face from the privatisation and competition which this deal heralds, the loss of trade union power in a carved up industry, the lost job opportunities for future job seekers and - a bitter lesson often learnt too late - the disqualification from unemployment assistance of those skipping away with the "lump".
Truly the Cost and Competitiveness Review is a most toxic fruit of nine years of "social partnership". Yet the ESB union members still have a vote to cast in the ballot on the deal. - Yours, etc.,
Comyn Place, Drumcondra, Dublin 9.