Talks to avert indefinite strike action by more than 10,000 electricians which could close major construction sites such as Lansdowne Road from tomorrow were continuing yesterday.

The talks, under the chair of the chief executive of the Labour Relations Commission, Kieran Mulvey, began yesterday afternoon.

The electricians, members of the TEEU, are looking for an 11.3% pay increase, which the union claims is made up of a 5% increase agreed with the employers in April 2008 - but never implemented – and a 6.3% increase which the union calculates should apply from April 2009.

The 11.3% increase would bring the electricians' hourly rate of pay from its existing €21.50 to just under €24 an hour. The largest employer, the Electrical Contractors Association, part of the CIF, urged the electricians to reconsider strike action.

"The impact that the threat of strike action has on our international reputation is unquantifiable," said the director general of the CIF and former PD minister, Tom Parlon.

He said that given the downturn in the construction sector, his members were unable to pay such an in­crease.

Meanwhile, around 70 dockers, members of Siptu, placed pickets on a stevedoring company in Dublin port in a dispute over what the union claims is a move to replace workers with cheaper labour.

But Marine Terminals said that it has offered crane operators – currently on around €75,000 – a new salary of €60,000.