A union representing electricians has announced its balloting its 6,500 members for strike action. 

The Technical Engineering and Electrical Union is in dispute with the Electrical Contractors Association over proposed pay cuts.

The union claims the Association wants to cut the existing rates by an average of ten per cent.

Eamon Devoy of the TEEU warns the action could have a serious impact if it follows the pattern of the last strike in 2009, when, as Devoy describes it, “Many workers, in solidarity with the electricians, stopped work, so it did have a much broader effect on the Irish economy.”