They say they are not being properly consulted about the outsourcing of their work.
The Independent Workers Union began a work-to-rule over the Bank Holiday weekend, refusing to provide emergency cover even as rough weather hit many areas.
The ESB says there was no delay to repairing outages because there was less weather damage than expected and contingency arrangements were enough to deal with it.
Network technician Brian Baitson is chairman of the strike committee and says they just want to defend their jobs: I would urge the ESB to get in touch either with us directly or through the WRC to sit down and come to an agreement in around the outsourcing and how we move forward. None of my colleagues and myself want to be in this position- losing days pay- like a lot of our boys are young guys, they have mortgages, they have bills, and we don t want to be in this position, doing what we have to do to look after our future.
Share this article
There is a threat that more strikes will take place next week across the country
Striking ESB staff are accusing the company of trying to introduce privatization of the service through the back door .
That s according to one worker, as members of the Independent Workers Union have been highlighting concerns about work being outsourced to the private sector.
Pickets have been staged at ESB yards around the country since this morning, with close to 500 workers involved, including dozens locally.
Advertisement
The 24-hour stoppage, which involves mostly technicians, has been condemned by the ESB as unlawful while more stoppages are being planned by IWU members next week.