SIPTU members working in the Energy Sector have today (Wednesday, 28th March) added their voices to the call for an agreed national protocol during future red alert weather warnings. SIPTU Energy Sector Organiser, Willie Noone, said: “Delegates at our Energy Sector AGM passed a resolution to instruct employers to pay full wages to all workers for red alert weather days. Our members in the energy sector worked tirelessly throughout the extreme weather to keep the lights on and the heating in our homes. These efforts must be recognised and rewarded in line with other workers who worked through the worst of Storm Emma and received days in lieu.” “At the AGM, our members also discussed how the majority of employers applied a range of different options to their employees in the aftermath of the recent extreme weather. This is unacceptable and won’t be tolerated. Workers who could not get to work for fear of their own health and safety should not be penalised especially considering the National Emergency Coordination Group instructed the public to stay of the roads.” BNM Group of Unions Secretary and SIPTU Sector Organiser, John Regan, said: “Our members are seeking a one model pay arrangement for all future red alert weather warnings that would deal with workers not able to get to work or being instructed by national bodies to stay at home.” “Instructions of this nature must carry a no loss of earnings condition and employers must not be allowed to pressurise workers into having to take annual leave, paid or unpaid.”
SIPTU representatives demand an agreed red alert protocol for all energy workers
