Unions are determined to secure a new national pay agreement but will not do so "at any price", the leader of the State's biggest public sector union, Impact, said yesterday.
Impact general secretary Peter McLoone told delegates to the union's biennial conference, in Killarney, there was no point in unions agreeing to proposals on pay that their members would not accept. Mr McLoone, current president of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu), also defended public sector pay levels and dismissed criticism as "hot air". But he said there was a need to reform public services to the benefit of those who used them.
His comments on the prospects of a pay deal were echoed by Ictu general secretary David Begg, a guest speaker, who said union leaders would not "drop the ball" when negotiations on a deal resumed this Sunday.
"If a wage agreement can be got that is fair and reasonable, we will deliver it. If it cannot be got on those terms we will unfortunately have to walk away. But no stone will be left unturned to make sure everything possible is done to get that positive result," he said.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, who addresses the conference today, also struck a more upbeat note yesterday about the possibility of a pay deal, which would form part of an overall social partnership agreement.
Mr Ahern said he did not think his pessimistic remarks in the Dáil on Tuesday about the prospect of an agreement represented a "doom and gloom" prediction.
In his address to the conference yesterday, Mr McLoone said he believed the parties were entering the final phase of "these mind-numbingly tedious and most difficult of negotiations". It was no secret that substantial differences had to be resolved, but the mood at the talks suggested that all sides wanted agreement.
"The executive council of congress remains resolute and determined that this coming weekend will not be a requiem for the demise of social partnership and is convinced that if the 'will' is there we can secure the terms of another agreement. But we cannot and will not make an agreement at any price."
Unions had to secure pay terms that provided "real protection" of members' living standards, and they also required a weighting in favour of the lower-paid, he said.
Mr McLoone said pay was not "the only problem", however. Ictu had approached negotiations on the basis that they provided an opportunity to create "a new progressive era" and develop "new ambitions" for society.
However, in negotiations on employment standards, Ictu had found itself occupying a "different space" to that of the employers' body, Ibec. He said unions made no apologies for seeking measures that would "put 'the fear of God' into any employer who would seek to take advantage of vulnerable workers, particularly - but not exclusively - those coming from overseas".
On public service modernisation, Mr McLoone said management and unions needed to put themselves in the shoes of clients or customers when negotiating change. The management agenda tended to focus exclusively on work practices and industrial relations issues.
"Rather than developing elaborate new management systems and practices that reflect textbook theories, we need to come up with simple, understandable reforms that meet public demands," he said.
A controversial motion criticising Labour leader Pat Rabbitte and Siptu president Jack O'Connor was referred back to the Impact executive after delegates to its conference decided not to put it to a vote. The motion, from Impact's Dublin care services branch, deplored what it said were calls by Mr Rabbitte and Mr O'Connor for "a new system of work permits to regulate the numbers of migrant workers coming to Ireland".
