UNIONS REPRESENTING ESB workers will met today to discuss what form industrial action should take following a vote by workers.
Employees voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action earlier this week in a dispute over the company’s pension scheme earlier.
The unions say today’s meeting will be “to consider how to give effect to this strong mandate in defence of staff pension rights in ESB”.
The company’s pension fund, which is the largest funded pension scheme in the State, has a gap of around €1.9 billion, unions say.
The ESB Group of Unions says that the ESB breached a 2010 agreement which was supposed to fix the deficit and began treating the scheme as a defined contribution scheme, rather than the previously existing defined benefit scheme. The unions say this transferred all of the risk onto members of the scheme.
The secretary of the group has warned that power cuts cannot be ruled out if workers strike.
The ESB Group of Unions is the collective name for the 5 trade unions – SIPTU, TEEU, UCATT, Unite andthe Energy Services Union – which represent all unionised staff within ESB.
The unions will decide today whether to serve notice on the company.
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