Ireland: Energy workers plan strikes

The main reason for the action is the government-backed plans for the distribution of electricity, selling the network to Eirgrid, a state-owned private limited company, which workers see as a step towards privatisation and a loss of the rights held by state employees.

Secondly, workers are resisting the alleged attempts of management to sideline their elected representative to the company board.

While the strike threatened by the Technical Engineering and Electrical Union in support of its representative may only be expected to cause local disruption to services, the strike against the transfer will have much greater consequences.

All of the power unions are opposed to these plans and they potentially have the ability to bring the Irish power grid down entirely during any action.