Gas workers in Cork are set to go on strike next week.
SIPTU representatives served notice of industrial action on GMC Civil and Mechanical Engineering, a company which maintains and upgrades the network for Gas Networks Ireland in the Republic of Ireland.
Workers are calling for a 5 per cent annual pay increase, which they say is needed because of the cost of living crisis.
Two 1-day work stoppages will take place on Friday, the 19th and 26th of May, with pickets on five GMC depots across the country at Whitestown in Cork, as well as Dublin, Limerick and Carlow.
Speaking to RedFM News, Industrial Organiser with SIPTU, Andrew McGuinness says their members felt they had no option but to pursue industrial action.
"We've said to GMC all along that we want people to meaningfully engage with us to solve this dispute, and we don't believe that's happened to date.
"We're after being in the WRC so many times, we've had so many local meetings. We thought we were getting somewhere, only for what they were talking about to be taken off the table, so we ended up back at the very start again.
"In January when we were getting nowhere, we just said we can't continue with this, we're 18 months doing this, it's unacceptable at this stage."
