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

The talks under the chair of the chief executive of the Labour Relations Commission, Kieran Mulvey, collapsed within a matter of hours after they started yesterday afternoon.

The electricians, members of the TEEU, are looking for an 11.3% 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% pay increase would bring the electricians' hourly rate of pay from its existing €21.50 to just under €24 an hour.

After the talks collapsed yesterday, Eddie Keenan, director of industrial relations with the Construction Industry Federation said: "We are certainly not in position to pay money at this point in time."

General secretary designate of the TEEU Eamon Devoy said nothing was put to them at the talks to negotiate.

"They [the Labour Relations Commission] asked us about our willingness to negotiate and we said we were there to negotiate. They went to meet the employers and then they came back and said there was no business to be done, so clearly the employers were not there to negotiate and we couldn't do any business."