In June, the CEPU Divisional Executive agreed to recommend two new agreements to its Silcar members, one for  Silcar Communications which provides a range of telecommunications access services and another for  Silcar Telecommunications which covers telepower functions.

Both agreements provided minimum 4% annual pay rises. Silcar Telecommunications also agreed to review the classification structures in their operation, paving the way to further potential increases in the future.

The Silcar Communications agreement was voted up, but the telepower agreement was narrowly defeated.  While this evidently reflected concerns among some employees about details of the agreement, the result may also have been the outcome of certain administrative problems associated with the ballot process, including failure of a number of employees to receive their ballot papers on time.

Because of these technical problems, the agreement is now going to a new vote. The CEPU is still recommending a YES vote to its members, as it considers that the agreement represents a fair outcome in difficult times.