The continuing failure of ESB management and unions to secure agreement on the Cost and Competitiveness Review (CCR) is a surprising, and potentially a very serious, turn of events. The CCR package, which envisages some 2,000 job losses and annual savings of some £80 million, represents the sole means by which the ESB can secure its place in, an increasingly competitive energy market. But there must now be serious concern that the CCR will be rejected by the unions, with ruinous consequences for, the company, unless the entrenched opposition of many key workers to the package is overcome.
The ordinary consumer and the average taxpayer be dismayed by the continuing impasse. On the, basis of agreement on the CCR, the ESB has recently secured the first in what is expected to be a series of price increases. As part of the same deal, its workers are poised to receive a wage increase of some seven per cent in addition to anything that will flow from the Programme for Competitiveness and Work (PCW). The 2,000 ESB staff, who will take up the voluntary severance package, have also been offered a generous redundancy package, worth some £105,000 to the average worker. By any standards these are generous? terms which will be the envy of most workers in the private sector and indeed many in the public sector. But it seems that all of these blandishments have not been enough to secure the agreement of all workers on the CPW. The day and shift workers at the power stations are said to be digging in, while the group of unions which has still to agree on a consensus approach is now seeking "clarifications" on the impact of the CCR on its members.
Despite its current difficulties, the ESB has served this State well. Unlike many semi states it has not been a huge drain on the public purse. It has provided high quality employment and training in every region of the country and it has built a strong international reputation. But the competitive pressures bearing down on the ESB are now intense the EU's plans for liberalisation of the energy sector raise the distinct possibility that other energy providers could "cherry pick" the electricity market. It may be that Ireland will be able to secure derogations and opt outs from some of these plans, but the remission will only be temporary sooner or later, the ESB will have to compete on even terms with very tough competitors.
It is to be hoped that some of these harsh market realities will inform the current discussions on the CCR. The naive view among some workers that they only have to reject the package in order to secure a better deal needs to be confronted. ESB management needs to underline, yet again, that the CCR is not open to negotiation and that it represents a take it or leave it offer. The stark alternative to the review must also be spelt out unilateral action by the company and possibly Government legislation. The hope must be that good sense will prevail in the clarification process now under way. The ESB's hope for a brighter future must not be endangered by old fashioned union militancy.