The chief executive of Concern, Mr David Begg, is to be the next general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions.
Mr Begg is best known for negotiating the 14.9 per cent employee share option scheme (ESOP) at Telecom Eireann, now Eircom. He will take over from Mr Peter Cassells in July. Yesterday Mr Begg said Mr Cassells had done an outstanding job for 15 years, and taking over from him would be a formidable challenge.
"The trade union movement faces major challenges," Mr Begg said. The collapse of communism had seen the emergence of "a very aggressive, very assured, laissez-faire model of capitalism. This was capable of generating great wealth, but at the same time issues of social justice and social cohesion have dropped off the agenda.
"The whole quality of life has been called into question, and in a free market system the trade union movement is one of the few agencies capable of addressing issues of social justice."
The obvious focus for Irish unions was the European Trade Union Confederation. "Promoting the EU social model is of paramount importance in a world increasingly dominated by US, Japanese and European trading blocks," Mr Begg said.
He sees the development of a stakeholder model of enterprise and social partnership as priorities in Ireland.
The Irish social model was still heavily dependent on the voluntary sector. Without massive investment and redistribution social problems would not be solved. "Many workers, for instance, are at salary levels where even a 100 per cent pay increase would not allow them to deal with the housing problem or shorten people's journeys to and from work," he said.
Mr Cassells is stepping down to take up the post of executive chairman of the New Centre for Partnership and Performance.
Mr Begg is a lifelong union activist. He became a full-time official when he was appointed deputy general secretary of the ESB Officers' Association in 1979 and general secretary in 1982.
Commenting on the appointment Mr Cassells said: "Dave Begg's vision and innovative approach, combined with his wide range of skills and depth of experience, are ideally suited to the needs of Congress at this time of rapid change for unions and for Irish society."