Madam, – I was flabbergasted to read the assertion by the general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, David Begg, that “The trade union movement has always been supportive of manufacturing”. He then bemoans the decline of manufacturing in Ireland, for which he blames a “failed liberal market model” (Opinion, September 21st).
The hypocrisy of Mr Begg’s assertions is that it is trade unions which inflicted the greatest harm to the manufacturing industry both in Ireland and elsewhere. Trade unionist greed and ideology resulted in the destruction of countless manufacturing companies, and indeed, whole industries. It is beyond rich for Mr Begg to be lambasting policy-makers for turning their backs on manufacturing when the trade unions were doing everything in their power, over decades, to undermine the manufacturing industry.
Trades unions did this by way of countless company-destroying strikes, constant demands for more and more unsustainable and unrealistic wage increases and by fomenting a destructive mistrust between the employee and employer. At a national level, the trade union movement inflicted considerable further harm to manufacturing in Ireland through the so-called “Social Partnership” cartel. This was used to drive wages yet higher and to support rigid work practices and crippling regulation. Mr Begg, as head of ICTU, was at the heart of this. – Yours, etc,