The turnout for the national day of protest organised by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions against the displacement of indigenous labour and the exploitation of migrant workers was as surprising as it was impressive.
The last time that such numbers took to the streets for a trade union protest was for the tax marches in 1979. One thing is clear: the size of the turnout will influence trade union attitudes in the lead-up to negotiations on a new national pay agreement and will make real partnership more difficult.
Yesterday's marches were emotional affairs even though they will serve little immediate useful purpose in industrial relations terms. However, they will have boosted trade union morale while endorsing the tough attitude to the Irish Ferries dispute adopted by Siptu president Jack O'Connor. The costly exercise, in terms of lost productivity, sent a specific message to Government and employers that, without legislative or other measures to protect living standards, social partnership negotiations may founder.
The rallies drew attention to deteriorating working conditions in key sectors of the economy while encouraging trade union recruitment at a time when membership in the private sector has been falling. In spite of the unexpectedly large turnout, however, participation as a percentage of the workforce as a whole amounted to only about five per cent.
Ictu has been at pains to separate the dispute at Irish Ferries from negotiations on a new national agreement. Advertisements for the protest concentrated solely on the exploitation of foreign labour and on the need to protect existing pay and conditions. In spite of that, the proposal by the ferry company to replace 543 Irish workers with cheap foreign labour formed a consistent backdrop to the protest and has acted as a warning to other vulnerable employees.
It is vital that a resolution to this long-running dispute is reached at the Labour Relations Commission, where talks between the parties are expected to resume next week. The National Implementation Body provided clear guidelines on how this might be achieved. Both parties have a responsibility to make compromises. One of the few certainties in life is that change will happen. Capitalism requires it. There will be no return to the protectionism of the past. But that does not have to involve a "race to the bottom" or a "winner takes all" approach. In a civilised and caring society we must modernise and adapt to change rather than waste time and energy in trying to prevent it.
Individual migrant workers have been shamefully exploited in this State. There is a sense that the Irish Ferries dispute is as much about the protection of a high-cost unionised economy, however, as it is about the primitive conditions in which many foreign workers are forced to live. One thing is certain after the day of protest. The Government will be wary of the discontent out there which brought so many people, young and old, on to the streets yesterday. A nerve has been touched.