Update on industrial disputes impacting Tipperary's water and fire fighting services

More than 30,000 users of public water supplies in south Tipperary suffered outages and low water pressure  while many more had Boil Water Notices imposed on their supply over the past week due to a three-day strike by water services workers. 

The strike action by Tipperary County Council water services workers, who are members of the Unite trade union, concluded at 1pm last Friday, August 4 a few hours ahead of schedule. 

Unite Regional Officer Eoin Drummy said their members postponed the strike, which began last Wednesday August 2, as a gesture of goodwill to allow water supply to be restored to those areas suffering outages and because Tipperary County Council had made an approach to engage with the union. 

Their decision also followed a direct appeal by Uisce Éireann Regional Operations Manager Jim Fitzgerald to end the strike. 

Water services workers weren’t the only public sector workers taking strike action in the county.  The retained fire fighters strike continued with Unite members staging a two-day strike at Carrick-on-Suir and Clonmel Fire Stations last Thursday and Friday and SIPTU fire fighters' strike action continuing.  

 The water services dispute that caused huge disruption to water supplies to thousands of households, farms and businesses heading into the August Bank Holiday Weekend centres on the transfer of water services workers from local authorities to Uisce Éireann. 

Tipperary County Council was one of seven local authorities impacted by the Unite strike by 120 water services workers last week. 

The union is seeking assurances from the local authorities that its members’ public service status, pay and conditions will be protected if they transfer over to Uisce Éireann and that the pay and conditions of those who decide to remain employed in councils will also be protected. 

It’s also seeking the removal of service and age barriers from voluntary redundancy packages and a date and wording for a referendum on public ownership of water. 

Mr Drummy said the strike arose due to the local authorities’ refusal to engage with Unite.  He described the indication it received from Tipperary County Council  that it wished to engage with the union as “a welcome development”. 

In relation to criticism over the impact the strike had on the public, he pointed out that their members who engaged in the industrial action live and work in the communities affected and so were also impacted by the water outages and boil water notices. 

“Our members didn't want to be on strike. It was very hard for them to be spending their day taking this action because the Local Government Management Agency refused to meaningfully engaged with Unite directly or through the Workplace Relations Commission.” 

Public water schemes where supply outages and low pressure occurred because remedial works for issues arising at treatment plants were delayed due to the strike included Glenary (Clonmel), Galtee Regional supplying areas stretching from Cashel to Emly and Ardfinnan Regional that supplies parts of Cahir and Fethard.

 Uisce Éireann supplied alternative water supplies in tankers to people affected in communities where water outages occurred.  

Repairs were carried out on the treatment plants over the weekend after the end of the strike and water supplies have been restored over the past few days. Boil Water Notices imposed on customers supplied from the Poulavanogue (Clonmel) Scheme and Carrick-on-Suir (Crotty's Lake) scheme were lifted on Saturday and the Boil Water Notice affecting those supplied by the Glenary scheme was lifted on Tuesday. 

Meanwhile, the two-day strike by  more than 40 retained fire fighters in Carrick-on-Suir and Clonmel who are members of  Unite,  last Thursday and Friday was  an escalation of their long running industrial dispute over pay and conditions. 

Strike pickets were placed at both fire stations during the strike but the union stressed that contingency arrangements were in place to deal with any emergency situations that arose during the work stoppage. 

Mr Drummy said the  union will now be engaging with its disputes committee to decide on what steps to take, including whether they should further escalate their industrial action.  

The strike centres on the part-time fire fighters’ long running claim for increased pay, better condition  and more structured time off and on-call hours. 

Mr Drummy said their fire fighter members found it difficult to get loans and mortgages due  to their level of pay and their quality of life was severely impacted by the current on-call system they work under. 

The Unite members two-day strike started  as SIPTU began a week long  consultation process with its retained fire fighter membership in  Tipperary and throughout the country over a further escalation of its current strike action. 

The nationwide strike by 2,000 retained fire fighters who are members of SIPTU, has been ongoing since Friday, July 28 with stations only responding to life-threatening incidents and 50% of stations closed at any one time. 

SIPTU’s national committee are due to meet today Wednesday (August 9) to consider the outcome of the consultation with members and what actions to take next. 

Ms Drummy said   Unite members’ strike action last week was prompted by the fact that, unlike SIPTU, it had been excluded to date from the national labour relations negotiations process in this dispute including a Labour Court hearing earlier this year. 

Mr Drummy said the Local Government Management Agency (the local authorities' representative body), doesn’t get to choose what unions its workers are members of.  

He called on the LGMA to engage with Unite in an effort to resolve the dispute.