SIPTU workers are expected to start industrial action at 10 a.m. today in a dispute over pay grade harmonisation in the development agencies which comprise Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland.
From today, SIPTU members will not answer phones at the agencies. On Wednesday they will cut off email operation and by Friday they will refuse to operate computers. The union members will then begin random picketing one day a week from next week if the dispute continues.
A spokesman for IDA Ireland said it had been trying to encourage voluntary participation at the Labour Court. SIPTU had given a deadline of December 31st for a resolution of the dispute and this was extended to January 14th.
An offer approved by the Departments of Finance and Enterprise and Employment was rejected and SIPTU members voted for industrial action. The IDA Ireland spokesman said the agency could continue to use faxes, which were exempt from the dispute and all managers had their own mobile phones so they could keep phone communication going.
However, the agency would be affected by the blacking of email and the situation would become very serious by Friday when SIPTU members were expected to stop using computers, he said.
SIPTU secretary Ms Patricia King said that the union had made representations over the past 12 months to have grade harmonisation in the agencies addressed.
She said that SIPTU would remain available to develop serious proposals with management "providing they represent an honest attempt to address the fundamental anomalies which have been inherent in the agencies' organisation ever since the original establishment of Forfas".
