Ossian Smyth, Green Party Energy spokesperson, this morningcriticised the threatened strike by Brendan Ogle and the ESB unions.
"Inlight of the job losses, wage cuts and many hardships endured by the Irishpeople over the last few years, the position staked out by Ogle and the unionis just not right. No ESB workers are being asked to take redundancies, noworkers are facing pay cuts, and the pension fund is stable and solvent bothnow and as far we we can see into the future. This conflict is irresponsibleand jeopardises the economic recovery our country needs, in light of the hardeconomic times of the last five years."
"TheESB got it wrong by not making absolutely clear their change in accountingtreatment of the pension fund, but that mistake can in no way justify the sortof strike action that is now being planned. It is hard to see an easy way outof the stalemate. If the company caves in and guarantees any future losses inthe funds, then the company's balance sheet and credibility with its lenderswill be shot. At the same time, it is hard to see Brendan Ogle being able toretreat from the position he has taken."
"Theother union leaders within the ESB and therest of the trade union movement have beenremarkably quiet in the face of a strike that could do lasting damage to everyother worker in the country. We need to hear from Jack O'Connor and David Beggas to what they see as a solution to this dispute before the country is pushedover the brink."
"TheGovernment has not helped matters by taking half abillion Euro out of the company in the form of a special dividend. Thathas had the result of massively cutting thecapital investment plan that the company had in place. Reversing that policyand restoring a real growth strategy for the company might be one way of givingthe Unions a way out from what is a very damagingstand off for the company, the workers and the country."
Ossian Smyth
Communications, Energyand Natural Resources
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