DUBLIN, July 9 (Reuters) - Talks aimed at halting a four-day strike over pay by 10,500 electricians across Ireland resumed on Thursday with participants warning a deal would take time to hammer out.
The industrial action has hit work at more than 200 construction sites, including flagship projects such as Dublin Airport's new terminal, and dented Ireland's pro-business reputation at a time of unprecedented recession.
"The union members and the union themselves want a resolution to their pay claim," said Kieran Mulvey, chief executive of the Labour Relations Commission, which is mediating talks between employers and the union representing the electricians.
"It's (the strike) doing damage to industry."
Owen Wills, the outgoing head of the Technical Engineering and Electrical Union (TEEU), said progress had been made in the talks, but issues remain. "It's a very complex area," he said.
Employers have warned jobs will be lost if the strike drags on and the government investment agency has said the disruption to business would put multinationals off locating in Ireland.
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) will ballot its members over the next week to seek support for an all-out picket, which would see non-TEEU members joining the strike.
Pickets have been set up outside the premises of international companies such as Intel and Microsoft and in some sites, non-TEEU members have opted not to work rather than cross the picket line and risk the wrath of striking colleagues.
Diageo has secured an injunction against the TEEU from picketing its St. James' Gate brewery, to prevent the action jeopardising the supply of Guinness stout to the domestic and overseas markets.
The TEEU has said its members were owed wage increases of about 11 percent from several years ago but employers say they can't afford to pay them any more and want instead pay cuts of about 10 percent. An electrical contractor currently earns 21.49 euros an hour.
Public support for the strike is thin on the ground and private sector employers have pushed through wage cuts of 10 percent or more as unemployment balloons. Economists have warned that further cuts are needed for Ireland to claw back competitiveness.
In a separate strike at Dublin Port, around 70 marine terminal workers are seeking an all-out picket as their industrial action over job losses and pay cuts enters its second week.
"I don't think there is much appetite on a wider scale for strikes at the moment or any kind of industrial unrest given the rate at which unemployment is still increasing," said Deirdre Ryan, economist at Goodbody Stockbrokers.e
Data out on Thursday showed that Irish consumer prices fell at the fastest pace since the Great Depression, widening the gap with the rest of the euro zone. (Reporting by Carmel Crimmins; Editing by Matthew Jones)