A 24-week-long strike involving lift technicians at Ballymun in Dublin has ended following talks with an independent mediator.
The lengthy dispute left most of the residents of the flats in Ballymun without working lifts.
Pickets were placed on February 4th in a dispute between the Technical Engineering and Electrical Union and Pickerings, a lift maintenance company, over the redundancy of seven employees in Ballymun.
The union alleged the company had failed to implement the ‘last-in-first-out’ principle when selecting employees for redundancy and that it refused to pay extra-statutory redundancy to those being let go.
The union said today an agreement had been reached on redundancy packages.
It said the terms of the agreement were confidential but were “in line with the industry norm for redundancy agreements in the industry”.
“An agreed formula was finalised in negotiations with the assistance of an independent mediator yesterday. It was then put to the strikers by TEEU general secretary Eamon Devoy. They voted to accept the terms yesterday evening.”
Pickerings will resume its repair operations for the residents of Ballymun until a replacement contractor has been appointed by Dublin City Council, the union said.
Over 400 tenants have been affected by the dispute.
Separately, the union warned that a similar dispute over redundancies at Otis Lifts, which is now entering its second week, may escalate as the union considers extending its industrial action to other subsidiaries of United Technologies in Ireland.
The dispute affects lift services in hospitals, shopping centres, industrial plants, office and apartment complexes.
As in the case of the Pickerings Lifts dispute TEEU members offered emergency cover, the union said.
It said this cover was accepted initially by Otis and operated successfully until Thursday “when Otis notified employees it was ending the arrangement”.
The dispute is over the sacking of 17 lift engineers on June 26th by Otis Lifts. It is the largest lift company operating in Ireland.
Facilities affected include the new T2 terminal at Dublin airport the Criminal Courts complex at Parkgate Street in Dublin and The Square shopping centre in Tallaght and Dundrum shopping centre.
Also affected are the Ulster Bank headquarters and its Dame Street branch, Bank of Scotland, Ireland in St Stephen’s Green, Arnotts, Henry Street, Jervis Street shopping centre, Custom House Square and Spencer Dock
TEEU assistant general secretary Arthur Hall said the Labour Court issued a Recommendation on May 21st detailing how redundancies should be implemented at the company.
The union deferred industrial action for a week to facilitate talks but these proved “futile”, he said.
“The company has decided to ignore the substance of the court’s recommendation, which was based on the norm that operates throughout the lift industry in Ireland and is accepted by its major competitors. We remain available for talks.”
In a statement earlier this week, Otis said it had had to “evaluate” its construction operations in Ireland and had been forced to make “some organisational changes”.
“These changes unfortunately have resulted in reorganising our field workforce, making some of our employees redundant. Otis accepts the Labour Court recommendation in respect of the reorganisation and is acting in compliance with this.”
The company said its operations in Ireland remained strong.