The country's largest unions have misrepresented the interests of the majority of their members ahead of voting on the proposed pay deal, a group of trade unionists claimed today.
Launching their Trade Union Campaign Against the Partnership Deal, the group of trade union members called for rejection of Sustaining Progress, claiming it will "put the trade union movement in shackles."
"A series of untruths have been told and we would call on (ICTU President) Joe O'Toole to apologise to union members, who were given promises on pay at the time of benchmarking. None of these have been delivered," spokesman Mr Eddie Conlon claimed.
Both SIPTU, the country's largest union, and IMPACT, the largest public sector union, are recommending acceptance of Sustaining Progress.
The campaign launched today, a rank and file member initiative, is centred on a number of issues which members claim need to be addressed ahead of voting on the deal.
These include clauses within the deal relating to compulsory binding arbitration, a practice which the group claims will "tie the hands of unions", and what the group claims is the deal's enforced commitment of unions to public sector benchmarking.
The campaign also claims that the proposed pay increases will not protect workers against inflation.
Branding the deal a "manufactured consensus", Mr Kieran Allen, a member of SIPTU's education branch, warned that the clause on compulsory arbitration will change the ground for future agreements.
"Along with the blank cheque for 'modernisation', this serves to undermine trade unions," he said.
Claiming ICTU was a "sophisticated dictatorship Saddam Hussein would be envious of", CPSU member Mr Terry Kelleher said unions were being "bullied" into accepting the deal.
"This deal is extremely unfair and biased, particularly against the low paid. Behind it is an agenda that is 90 per cent IBEC," he said.
SIPTU and Dublin Fire Brigade member Mr Rory Mooney claimed that the deal was a "blind mongrel".
"We don't know where we're being led, and we don't know who is doing the leading. The linking of benchmarking and the pay deal is a serious problem - if we accept this we will shackle ourselves," he warned.
Among those launching the campaign were: Mr Rory Mooney (SIPTU), Mr Kieran Allen (SIPTU), Mr Mike Martin (SIPTU), Ms Jo Tully (INO), Mr Eddie Conlon (Teachers' Union of Ireland) and Mr Terry Kelleher (Civil and Public Service Union). All were speaking in a personal capacity.
The pay deal was last week rejected by MANDATE, the union representing bar and retail trade workers. A number of private-sector unions, including the Technical, Engineering and Electrical Union (TEEU), the Irish Bank Officials Association (IBOA) and Building and Allied Trades Union (BATU), are recommending rejection of the deal.