Trade unions are today expected to postpone a decision on whether to enter new national pay talks, amid heightening tensions between them over the future of social partnership, writes Chris Dooley, Industry and Employment Correspondent
Delegates to an Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) conference in Dublin are likely to accede to a request by Siptu that a decision on entering talks be deferred.
Siptu, the State's biggest union, wants specific commitments from the Government on measures to prevent exploitation of workers before it agrees to enter talks. Its stance has contributed to what one senior union source described last night as "unprecedented tension" within the trade union movement.
Talks on a successor to Sustaining Progress are due to formally begin on November 17th, with a view to continuing the 18-year-old partnership process. At a special conference yesterday, however, Siptu activists voted overwhelmingly to put the union's participation in the talks on hold. The conference was followed by a tense meeting last night of the executive council of Ictu, attended by leaders of the main unions, including Siptu.
After a two-hour debate, the council unanimously agreed to Siptu's request that a decision on entering talks be deferred. It will recommend that that position be formally adopted at today's Ictu conference.
A number of recent developments, however, are making it increasingly difficult for pro-partnership unions to keep the process on track.
Mandate, which represents 40,000 workers in the bar and retail trades, has already said it will not take part in any talks on a new agreement. It plans to return to direct collective bargaining with employers.
The Irish Nurses Organisation is also threatening to pursue a "go-it-alone" strategy if it fails to secure a change in the terms of reference of the new benchmarking process.
The independent positions taken by Mandate and the INO had already given rise to inter-union tensions before Siptu's actions aggravated the situation.
Several sources in other unions claimed last night that Siptu was wrong not to accept an overture from Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to agree at this stage to enter talks.
In a letter to Ictu at the weekend, designed to address Siptu's concerns, Mr Ahern promised "full engagement" on a range of measures to protect employment standards. He also repeated his criticism of Irish Ferries, whose plan to replace hundreds of unionised seafarers with cheaper migrant labour, has sparked the current crisis.
Addressing the union's conference yesterday, Siptu president Jack O'Connor said Mr Ahern's letter was "positive in an aspirational sense". He said some people might ask why the union would not then enter talks with a view to establishing if the aspirations could be turned into reality.
However, the issues of most concern, namely displacement of jobs and exploitation, were on a "different level" than others that might be addressed in the partnership talks.
Siptu did not, therefore, want them added to a "long list" of union demands, but required that they be addressed before talks began.
Mr O'Connor denied after the conference that the union was attempting to negotiate outside the partnership framework. "We don't expect the Government to enter into an agreement in advance of negotiations, but we need to see what is envisaged," he said.