SIPTU members in Edenderry Power Ltd (EPL), Edenderry, County Offaly, have voted by a five to one majority for industrial and strike action in a ballot counted last night (Thursday, 23rd February). SIPTU Organiser, John Regan, said: “Our members in Edenderry Power Ltd will now seek sanction from the union’s executive to issue a 14-day notice of industrial action on the company. This dispute is in relation to the Bord na Móna subsidiary refusing to accept that a collective bargaining agreement signed in November 2013 covers our members’ right to have their basic pay increases negotiated by SIPTU representatives. “The company entered into talks on a pay increase of 3.5% in April 2014. In early 2016, it derailed the process at the Workplace Relations Commission by stating that a collective agreement between the union and management did not cover pay negotiations. This resulted in it claiming that SIPTU representatives did not have a right to represent its members in pay negotiations.” He added: “Workers in EPL have not received a pay increase since 2007. This is remarkable when it is considered that they are working for a subsidiary of a semi-state company which has recorded profits of €85 million in the last three years.”
SIPTU members in EPL vote for strike action in collective bargaining dispute
