Hundreds of retired ESB workers marched on the company’s Dublin headquarters on Tuesday demanding pension increases they say were stripped from them unfairly almost 10 years ago.
“It’s very simple, [it is] 10 years and we got nothing,” said one worker who asked only to be identified as Jim. “You have to watch the shillings. The bills are coming in and they are going up all the time.” There is a general sense among workers that they have no outlet to raise their concerns or options other than a prohibitively expensive legal action.
Its trustees, who the retired workers say have flatly refused to engage, could not be reached for comment. The ESB group of unions, who the workers say negotiated the 2010 agreement, said nobody was available for comment.However, it is this sense of firmly shut doors that is fuelling the workers’ determination to protest, particularly in the run up to a general election.