A Special Meeting of the eircom Sectoral Executive was held on the 19th April 2006 to discuss the proposed sale of eircom.

Obviously there is growing concern amongst our members in relation to the proposed sale and also in relation to stories circulating in the media concerning plans by Babcock and Brown to split the Company if successful in purchasing it. You will be aware that recently the Union issued a number of statements in relation to the proposed sale, which quite simply, made it clear to Babcock and Brown and indeed to anybody else who has interests in eircom, that our core interest was the jobs, pay and conditions of our members and that as we were here for the long haul that we were also interested in long term investment plans for the company.

There has also been some confusion in relation to the different positions that seem to have been adopted by the ESOT and the Communications Workers’ Union. Let me be absolutely clear that both are separate entities and have to operate under different criteria and rules.  One of the principal functions of the ESOT is to make decisions in relation to the shareholding in the company in a financially responsible way, as would be expected by any prudent business person and obviously those decisions should be for the benefit of its participants.  At this stage those participants are almost equally divided amongst current serving staff and past employees.

On the other hand, the focus of the Union has to be on the jobs, pay and conditions of its members and as a union we also have to have an eye on the long term future of the company and on our rights to represent our members there.  Therefore, the Union has been attempting to make it clear to all and sundry that we would oppose any purchase of eircom by any company who refuse to honour existing agreements in relation to pay and conditions and who would refuse in any shape or form to recognise the right of the Union to organise within the eircom group of companies, or whose plans were deemed by us not to be in the long term interests of those members. 

We have had an initial meeting with the representatives of Babcock and Brown, which was cordial and which was constructive.  It is now our intention to further meet with those representatives in order to establish whether or not we can come to an understanding in relation to the issues outlined above.  Obviously we will further report to you at that stage.