SIPTU's president, Mr Des Geraghty, has warned the Government and employers against becoming complacent about social partnership. He said both would have to become more proactive in promoting partnership at local level and in dealing with wider issues such as inflation.
He urged the Government to take measures to curb land speculation and reduce the inflationary impact of rising fuel prices. While he accepted interest rates were now set by the European Central Bank, Mr Geraghty said Irish banks should adjust their profit margins - which were among the highest in the EU - if they wanted to be accepted as credible social partners.
He made his comments after SIPTU voted by 69 to 31 per cent for the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness yesterday. The State's largest public service union, IMPACT, voted by 81 to 19 per cent for the new agreement.
This puts beyond doubt the outcome of tomorrow's special delegate conference of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. More than 200 of the 370 delegates are now mandated to vote for the PPF and the majority could well exceed the 217 votes cast in favour of Partnership 2000.
IMPACT general secretary Mr Peter McLoone said trade unionists had endorsed the strategy of ICTU negotiators. "We went into negotiations knowing expectations were higher than ever.
"We knew we had to do better this time and we did. We told our members that this was the best deal that could have been negotiated and the IMPACT result is an overwhelming endorsement of that judgment."
Today the State's second-largest union, MANDATE, is expected to reject the PPF by a large majority, as is the Building and Allied Trades Union. The result in the largest Civil Service union, the Civil and Public Service Union, is expected to be close and so is that in the Irish National Teachers' Organisation. But even if all these unions vote down the PPF, it will not be enough to secure a majority at today's conference.
A small number of unions may reconsider membership of ICTU in the light of the vote. The Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland has already withdrawn from Congress and there is a motion for the CPSU conference in May calling for withdrawal.
Yesterday the general secretary of the Technical Engineering and Electrical Union, Mr Owen Wills, said if gain-sharing elements of the new agreement were not approached positively by employers, his union would consider withdrawing from ICTU at its October conference. The 28,000-strong TEEU consists mainly of craftworkers and members voted almost unanimously on Monday to reject the PPF.
Even unions voting for the PPF believe the jury is out on the pay elements of the new agreement. The general secretary of the Communications Workers' Union, Mr Con Scanlon, most of whose members are in Eircom, says he believes the PPF might be the last of the current generation of centralised agreements. In future, sectoral pay negotiations may be needed as part of wider agreements to accommodate the increasing diversity of the economy, he says.