WATER SERVICE WORKERS have held strike action at ten local authorities across the country.

They are protesting a deal put forward by the Workplace Relations Commission last year to resolve tensions over the future of water service staff who are being transferred to Uisce Éireann (formerly Irish Water).

Trade union Unite said today’s picket is also over the “ongoing failure” of local authorities and their representative association – the Local Government Management Agency – to sit down for talks over what the union believes to be shortcomings in the WRC’s agreement.

Unite members voted to reject the ‘Framework for the Future Delivery of Water Services’ document put forward by the WRC last year.

They are seeking a commitment that members transferring to Irish Water will retain their public service status.

The pickets are underway at councils in Cork, Galway and Waterford, along with Louth, Carlow and Tipperary.

In Dublin, water service workers have held pickets at Fingal County Council and South Dublin County Council.

Unite members working in water delivery services standing strong in Cork this morning - the LGMA needs to engage with workers to resolve this dispute! #RespectWorkers pic.twitter.com/imyUzD6Gfz

— UNITE union Ireland (@UniteunionROI) June 30, 2023

Tom Morrissey, who was on the picket line outside the council’s Menapia offices in Waterford city, told The Journal that members want to be heard by their employer.

“We voted to reject the framework document but the LGMA and Uisce Éireann are trying to push ahead with it without our support. We’re here to try and bring the LGMA back to the table to discuss with us the big issues.”

Among these are the union’s stated desire to strengthen protection of local authority workers involved in water services delivery, and to remove age barriers for those wishing to avail of redundancy and retire.

Additionly, the union has urged that the Framework be amended to specify a date and wording for a referendum enshrining public ownership and management of Ireland’s water system in the Constitution.

In Waterford alone, there are dozens of workers at around ten demonstrations, outside water treatment plants, two council offices and machinery yards.

“My own plant in Adamstown (in Co Waterford) has been manned since it opened in 1987 and this is the first time nobody is up there,” Morrissey said.

“Those decisions weren’t taken easy – there’s fellas there with 40 years’ service and they’re down there at the gate for the first time ever.

“That’s what happens when you don’t respect the ballot by members.”

Morrissey said he found little comfort in assurances from Minister Darragh O’Brien that workers’ terms would be protected.

“We have the word of the minister but in my view that’s a lame-duck minister and by the time we’re dealing with this decision, we could be dealing with another minister who might not feel bound by anything,” he said.

“So the most important part for me is for a date of the referendum and wording of the referendum to keep water in public ownership.”