NEWS RoI Round Up
n By Alex Klemm
On the picket lines and in the courts
Unite is winning for Ireland’s mechanical workers
The past year has been one to remember for Unite members working as plumbers, pipefitters and welders in Ireland’s thriving construction sector, with the union forced to fight on two fronts – the picket line and the courts.
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Employers knew that our members were determined to secure cost-of-living pay increases, and a vote for action would be followed by strong and unbreakable picket lines. They also knew that Unite would back our members every step of the way
Mechanical members ended 2023 with a significant pay increase and started 2024 with a landmark legal win – both testimony to strong workplace organisation backed by a union leadership which will leave no stone unturned in defence of members.
James McCaberep, Unite regional officer
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In March 2023, mechanical members voted overwhelmingly for strike action in pursuit of a claim for restoration of the first hour of travel time, which had originally been cut as a so-called ‘temporary measure’ following the 2008 financial crash. HA O’Neil (part of the Jones Engineering Group) responded by seeking an injunction preventing the pickets going ahead.
In an unprecedented attack on workers, three shop stewards were named in the legal proceedings. Although Unite successfully defended our members’ right to strike in the High Court and strong pickets went ahead
14 Unite buildingWORKER Spring 2024
on 10 March, HA O’Neil managed to obtain an interim injunction preventing a further day of action on 31 March.
Unite was determined to defend members against this fundamental attach on the right to strike, and made it clear the injunction would be appealed to the Supreme Court. But the wheels of justice grind slowly, and meanwhile mechanical members remained determined to secure a cost- of-living pay increase.
In October, the Mechanical Sectoral Employment Order collapsed after one of its provisions was challenged on constitutional grounds by a group of employers. Unite warned employers that they had scored a Pyrrhic victory: unions were no longer bound by the cumbersome dispute resolution procedures in the SEO – leaving members free to take industrial action.
Following the collapse of the SEO,
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