TRADE UNIONS have warned of possible serious industrial unrest if companies follow advice given by employers' group Ibec and delay local bargaining on wage increases following the collapse of the national pay talks. MARTIN WALL, Industry Correspondent reports
In a statement today the president of the country's largest union, Siptu, said he hoped that agreements on pay rises could be made on an employer-by-employer basis without recourse to industrial action.
However, Jack O'Connor said that "any suggestion of a general direction by Ibec to employers to the effect that they should refuse to engage with us would contravene most collective agreements and therefore raise the prospect of industrial unrest long before it would otherwise be anticipated".
Mandate, which represents nearly 50,000 workers in the retail and bar sectors, said that calls by Ibec on employers not to engage in local collective bargaining were "both dangerous and out of touch with reality".
Its assistant general secretary Linda Tanham said: "By telling their members not to engage in local collective bargaining they are laying the foundations for serious industrial unrest in this country."
Ibec at the weekend urged its members not to engage in local bargaining with unions on pay claims until a further meeting sought by Taoiseach Brian Cowen on the possibility of a national deal took place at the end of the month. Ibec has not given up on the prospect of a national agreement on pay being reached after the summer break.
It said yesterday that it was encouraged by comments made by David Begg of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions that a pay agreement was still possible. Ibec director Brendan McGinty said that a deal "could still be possible if the social partners can show leadership in charting a way forward".
He said that following further meetings between the social partners and the Taoiseach the prospects for an agreement would become clear. Mr McGinty also said that in many firms and sectors pay arrangements were still covered by the current agreement. "If no national agreement emerges and where existing pay agreements have expired, claims will be processed in line with established industrial relations procedures." However, Ms Tanham said that for employers to argue that the issue of increases should be left until the end of the month for discussion was "simply not feasible for low-paid workers who desperately need an increase in income in preparation for increased energy and food costs this winter".
Mr O'Connor said "the reality is that the negotiations have broken down and there are no arrangements to reconvene. There has been no indication from the employers. . . they will adopt a more reasonable stance if the talks were to resume. Accordingly, we have no alternative other than to press ahead with our claims directly on those employers."
Ms Tanham said Mandate would be preparing pay claims immediately. The union is expected to seek flat-rate increases of about €30 per week. Mandate rejected as "simply disingenuous" Ibec arguments that a flat-rate increase would put jobs at risk. "There is an inability-to-pay clause in social partnership agreements which has worked very well until now," Ms Tanham said.
Private sector unions are to meet tomorrow to consider a strategy for lodging pay claims
Mr O'Connor also said unions were only prepared to accept possible below-inflation increases for the better off. He also indicated that unions wanted the Government to support any deal with a package of measures for tackling inflation.
At the weekend Mr Begg said unions in some circumstances would have been prepared to accept a settlement that did not match inflation as long as protections were put in place for lower-paid workers.
Mr O'Connor added that for the avoidance of doubt the trade unions were prepared to accept a deal "that would be somewhat better than inflation for the lower paid whilst it might be something less than inflation for the better paid. If such an agreement was supported by a government anti-inflation strategy this would send out a very positive message about our economic management."