Cranes at building sites across the country will grind to a halt this week
However rival unions are going head-to-head over the planned strike action.
THE UNITE UNION has announced that cranes at building sites around the country will be sitting idle on Thursday as operators strike for higher pay.
The union said in a statement that it will be the first in a “series of strike days” ahead of a general members’ meeting to decide if further stoppages are needed in the coming weeks.
It said the move followed “a failure by employers to engage meaningfully with the union” and an “overwhelming mandate” for industrial action.
The union is calling for crane drivers’ pay to be lifted to between €25 and €27 an hour - although rival union Siptu, which also represents some workers in the sector, has dismissed the claim as ”disingenuous”.
Speaking to TheJournal.ie, Siptu divisional organiser Greg Ennis claims the change would represent a 50% pay jump – rather than Unite’s claim it would be only a 10% jump.
Speaking to Fora in April, regional officer for construction Tom Fitzgerald said:
“The reason why it is 10% is because then they would match the highest rates in the construction sector, which are for workers in mechanical grades, like plumbers and welders.”
Labour Court
The disagreement between Siptu and Unite comes after the unions attended the Labour Court to discuss a bid by the Construction Industry Federation (CIF) to set a floor on wages for the construction sector.
The unions had sought pay rises of 10% for all construction workers, which would leave the highest-paid ‘craftsmen’ grade on just under €19 per hour.
A further four grades of ‘construction operatives’ would be paid a percentage of that amount, with crane operators getting 97% of the figure.
Siptu’s Ennis questioned why Unite was part of the Labour Court process while also pursuing a separate – and significantly larger claim – for a small subset of workers.
Unite would not comment further on the claim, however Fitzgerald previously said he expected the industrial dispute would lead to work delays on major building sites.
Written by Ceimin Burke with additional reporting by Peter Bodkin.
