Great expectations blamed for industrial unrest

Are pent-up pressures for wage increases causing more industrial unrest in the economy? According to the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the number of work days lost to industrial disputes almost trebled last year.

The CSO’s figures show 44,105 days were lost to industrial disputes in 2014 compared with just 14,965 the previous year. Undoubtedly some observers will link this to greater expectations on the part of workers, whipped up by a welter of positive economic data surrounding Ireland’s recovery.

However, a look under the bonnet of the figures reveals a more complex picture. Two disputes in the education sector accounted for 54 per cent of the days lost last year. The larger of the two disputes fronted by the teachers' unions ASTI and TUI (above) centred on proposed changes to the Junior Cert cycle, and not ostensibly on pay.

The one-day stoppage by teachers in December closed more than 730 post-primary schools and accounted for the single biggest tally of days lost (23,500) last year. However, even removing this from the equation, there was still a noticeable upsurge in work days lost from industrial rows in 2014 . The second big dispute in the education sector last year related to staff at the Tyndall research institute in Cork. In this case, workers did stage a series of one-day stoppages over pay and conditions on the grounds they should be afforded parity with their counterparts at University College Cork.

There was a palpable upsurge in expectations surrounding last October’s budget linked perhaps to a sequence of bumper exchequer returns.

Whether growing expectations around wages will translate into full-blown industrial crises is anyone’s guess. However, one thing is for sure, the clamour for some kind of recovery dividend on the part of hard-pressed workers is perhaps the single biggest hurdle the Government faces in its bid to be re-elected.