Management at the ESB has agreed to a request from the group of unions to attend a meeting after union representatives met today to discuss strike action over pay and other issues.
A full meeting of the ESB group of unions has been called for 11 a.m. on Friday. In the meantime the group is expected to meet with the company tomorrow or Wednesday, a statement from the unions said.
In a single-line statement, the company said it had agreed to attend the meeting.
Earlier, the company said it was "gravely concerned" at the decision of a union representing workers at the company to serve strike notice but said there is no immediate threat to electricity supplies.
The ESB Officers' Association (ESBOA) told the company last Friday of its intention to withdraw labour from July 12th. Other unions - including TEEU, ATGWU, SIPTU and Amicus - have not served notice of industrial action although members have approved such action.
Workers are seeking an 18.5 per cent pay rise and an increase in their shareholding in the company from 5 per cent to almost 20 per cent. There is also concern about a deficit in the pension fund of more than €0.5 billion.
Talks on these issues and on a new productivity agreement, to replace one due to end on Wednesday, broke down on June 10th.
ESB said: "The notice of industrial action comes against a background of a month-long period of intense negotiations involving management and the group of unions at ESB. ESB management views the threat of industrial action by an individual union as totally unwarranted. ESB would like to assure its customers that there is no immediate threat to supply."
Mr Tony Dunne, general secretary of the ESBOA, said it was a "difficult situation" that clearly needed some hard work.
He said there had been no industrial action in the ESB since 1991. The workers had co-operated with major change in the company in the past eight or nine years, during which time 4,500 people had left the company either on voluntary redundancy packages or early retirement. That period had also seen the deregulation of the industry and the ESB had become a very successful company, Mr Dunne said.
Measures to address the pension fund deficit have also been discussed in recent weeks, but no agreement has been reached. Mr Dunne said the pension fund situation was "nobody's fault" but was simply the result of the poor performance of equity markets, which had hit all pension funds in recent years.
The Labour Party's spokesman on natural resources, Mr Tommy Broughan, called on the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources to "get back to his brief" and attempt to resolve the crisis at ESB.
He said there was now a "live threat" of industrial action and he hoped the spirit of partnership that had prevailed at the company would prevail.
The Green Party's energy spokesman Mr Eamon Ryan called on the Government to outline its policy on the future of the company, saying there was a lack of any clear strategy.
"The threatened strike at the ESB would have a devastating effect on the Irish economy," he said.
"The deregulation of the electricity business has clearly failed and yet the Government seems to be happy with the status quo and cashing in the €67 million dividend cheque which it got from the ESB last year."