Three days of strike action by Unite members set to impact south Tipperary water schemes this week

Tipperary County Council says it has been notified of the decision of the Unite trade union to engage in a national three-day industrial action starting tomorrow (Wednesday, August 2).  

This action will involve water services employees in Tipperary County Council who are members of the Unite trade union and will consist of the withdrawal of their labour for these three days.

The industrial action relates to the ongoing transformation of water services to Uisce Éireann, which is the national public utility responsible for water services.

Nationally, local authority management have advised that they will engage with Unite through the same process in which they engaged with the other unions which is through the Congress group of unions and clarifications have been provided in writing to Unite on all of the issues raised.

Whilst some communication continues at a national level in relation to this specific dispute, it is expected that the planned industrial action over three consecutive days this week will go ahead as notified.

An industrial action of this scale and nature is expected to have significant impacts on water consumers, both the public and commercial customers. There will be a high potential for water outages across certain areas of the county over these three days and for some time afterwards. These water outages may involve a reduction or loss of supply.

Tipperary County Council and members of the Unite union have met and agreed some contingency arrangements that are required to protect vulnerable customers and essential services.

Uisce Éireann is also monitoring the risk levels on the water supplies in county Tipperary and the need, in consultation with the Health Service Executive, to put precautionary Boil Water Notices in place where water treatment processes are affected and public health is compromised.

Last Friday (July 28) precautionary Boil Water Notices were put in place on the Crotty’s Lake water supply scheme in Carrick-on-Suir and on the Glenary and Poulavanogue water supply schemes in Clonmel.

The need to provide water tankers to areas that will be without water is also being kept under review in the light of emerging circumstances.

It is anticipated that those parts of County Tipperary which are likely to be affected by this industrial action are located in the southern half of the county, with particular reference to those customers served by the Galtee, Ardfinnan, Dundrum, Clonmel and Carrick-on-Suir Water Supply Schemes. It is not expected that wastewater treatment will be impacted by the industrial action.

Public health is Tipperary County Council’s number one priority, and the Council is working in partnership with Uisce Éireann to minimise the impacts on water customers, to ensure that drinking water quality is maintained and that water supplies are restored for all impacted customers as quickly as it is safe to do so.

At the time of going to press, Tipperary County Council is still hopeful that the planned industrial action can be averted but, in the event, that the strike action does come to pass, the Council would urge all water consumers to follow the advice provided in the precautionary Boil Water Notices and to conserve the use of water as much as possible.

Full details on the areas impacted by the precautionary Boil Water Notices are on www.water.ie and updates as they occur for all counties will be issued locally through media and on the Council’s website, www.tipperarycoco.ie. Customers can visit www.water.ie follow via Twitter @IWCare or if they have specific queries or concerns contact the Uisce Éireann  24/7 customer contact centre at 1800 278 278.

For customers who wish to check if their property is on a precautionary Boil Water Notice, please go to the Water Quality section of the website www.water.ie and enter the property’s Eircode and then click the ‘More Details’ tab. You will then see if your property is on a precautionary Boil Water Notice.