WHEN THE trade union movement last met collectively in conference two years ago former taoiseach Bertie Ahern infamously wondered aloud as to why people who criticised the economy did not “commit suicide”.
Two years later, with the concerns of many of these same critics having come to pass, the biennial conference of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) which opens in Tralee today will be dominated by the economy, soaring unemployment and threats to jobs pay and conditions in the public sector.
Over the last year the world of industrial relations has been turned upside down. Measures such as pay cuts, unthinkable several months ago, have been accepted by unions in a bid to save jobs. In some cases proposals for wage cuts have been put forward by unions as an alternative to redundancies.
The economic crisis and the Government’s attempts to deal with it has also thrown partnership – to which the trade union movement has been wedded for more than 20 years – into turmoil.
Since the last Ictu biennial conference in 2007 union leaders have been engaged in an almost perpetual talks process with the Government, employers and other groups; first on the social partnership deal reached last autumn and then on attempts to agree a plan for economic recovery.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen, on a number of occasions, has stressed his support for partnership and is likely to repeat this when he addresses conference on Friday.
However, there is no certainty that partnership, as it has existed over the last 20 years, can produce an agreed recovery plan. Indeed it may not even survive the trauma arising from the report of the Expenditure Review Committee, and probable further tough cutbacks in public services.
There are different views in the trade union movement about the continuing engagements with the Government on a deal on economic recovery.
Ictu general secretary David Begg has described this process as “the only game in town”. However, Eamon Devoy of the TEEU has said the social partnership talks have been dead for some time. Similarly Jimmy Kelly of Unite has said his union had lost all confidence in the process.
While the talks on an economic recovery deal have been under way since January, there has been much debate over what has emerged from this process.
The first set of talks collapsed when unions refused to back the Government’s pension levy.
A second round of talks in recent weeks centred on proposals advanced by unions, employers and other social partners in relations to jobs, pensions, measures to assist people with mortgage arrears and changes to terms and conditions of those working in the public sector.
This resulted in a Government document a fortnight ago which, at its core, contained a commitment to invest an initial €250 million in a jobs subsidy scheme. The Government signalled that this figure could ultimately be expanded to the €1 billion sought by the Ictu. However, within a day Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan appeared to express reservations about such a development.
The jobs subsidy scheme has been one of the “big ideas” advanced by unions over recent months. However, questions about how it would work remain unanswered.
These include whether the scheme would be extended beyond the exporting and manufacturing sectors and how concerns raised by Mr Lenihan that State subsidies could result in competitive distortions in the market.
Moreover, further detail is required on who will administer the scheme and assess and determine which applicants will receive the subsidies – an issue that could be fraught with legal problems.
Mr Cowen’s speech on Friday will be watched carefully for possible answers to these questions.
Among the motions to be debated this week is one from the the Ictu executive that the defence of employment must be the first priority of economic and social policy and that congress must continue to engage with the Government and employers in pursuit of this objective.
Separately, the Civil Public and Services Union will propose that the Ictu executive should examine all options including strike action to resist wage cuts and job losses in all sectors. The conference will also hear a motion from the Association of Higher Civil and Public Servants calling for the establishment of a special Revenue court and a move away from the “settlement culture”.