Confidence seeps after agreement breached
by Bernard Harbor
 
Fórsa sought the WRC intervention after employers breached the four-year-old agreement aimed at reducing water leakages.
Fórsa sought the WRC intervention after employers breached the four-year-old agreement aimed at reducing water leakages.

Fórsa and Siptu have given water service employers until next Wednesday (23rd December) to confirm that they will honour a staffing agreement linked to water leakages. The move followed failure to resolve a dispute over the agreement in the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) earlier this week, which unions say could have implications for ongoing talks on the future of Irish Water.

 

Fórsa sought the WRC intervention after employers breached the four-year-old agreement aimed at reducing water leakages. It allows for contractors to work alongside local authority staff for a two-year period, and for temporary local authority staff to be made permanent.

 

But, despite employers acknowledging that the agreement had successfully reduced leakages, they would not give commitments to fulfil their obligations.

 

Speaking after the hearing, Fórsa national secretary Peter Nolan said the failure to uphold the successful agreement could have major implications for discussions on the future of Irish Water.

 

“We have previously been given guarantees that all collective agreements will be honoured in full. Going by today’s meeting the employers have failed at the first test,” he said.

 

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