The decision by the country's largest trade union, SIPTU, to enter negotiations with Government and employers on a new national wage agreement to succeed Partnership 2000, is a positive development. The nature of that undertaking does, however, indicate a growing disillusionment at shop-floor level with the rigidities of past agreements and a determination by workers to share more equally in the fruits of economic growth. Support for centralised agreements has shrunk to 32 per cent amongst SIPTU shop stewards while a combination of local and national pay bargaining is favoured by 57 per cent. The change of mood reflects the continuing strong growth of the economy; the emergence of skills shortages in certain areas and an evolution of trade-union attitudes over the 12 years of successive agreements. The price of trade-union participation in a new social contract has already been set at £1 billion in tax cuts for lower and middle income groups by SIPTU, along with wage increases, profit-sharing, productivity schemes and higher social spending on health care, pensions and education.
Preliminary discussions on a framework for a new three-year agreement will now get under way between the Government and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, culminating in a special ICTU conference on November 4th. Much of the preparatory work has already been done by the National Economic and Social Council, a body representing the social partners. Its report - detailed in today's editions - suggests that workers should be rewarded for the exceptional economic gains already made.
These positive developments, which seek to build on the social consensus of the past, are threatened by the nurses' strike, scheduled to begin on October 19th. Should that strike proceed, it could poison industrial relations and lead to widespread disruption within the health services. The Government is in a difficult position. An arbitration by the Labour Court has been rejected by members of the four nurses' unions and demands for further, long-service payments to staff nurses have been made. But there is no mechanism to meet those extra demands within Partnership 2000. Should further concessions be made, they will immediately trigger a range of knock-on demands by teachers, higher civil servants, prison officers and the Garda.
Nurses have genuine grievances in a rapidly-changing health service. But they appear to lack a clear strategy. During the past two years they have secured pay increases of at least 23 per cent, in addition to action on the Nurses Commission Report. Now, they appear determined to strike when their interests might be better served by seeking to fast-track their grievances under a new partnership agreement. The Government is committed to the introduction of new productivity arrangements within the public service that would replace traditional relativities. This could open the way for nurses to secure long-cherished parity of pay with paramedics and teachers. Social partnership has delivered major benefits. It has transformed the economy; created nearly half-a-million extra jobs and, between 1988 and 1999, delivered a 35 per cent increase in real take-home pay. But the wave of recent revelations ail Public Accounts Committee and controversy over the Ansbacher accounts have combined to sour public opinion. Evidence of widespread tax evasion and fraud amongst the wealthier elements of society has seriously shaken trust in the social contract. In that context, the Government will have to demonstrate its commitment to social inclusion in its new six-year National Plan, likely to be published next week, and in the Budget, scheduled for December 1st. This is the best means of protecting the partnership model.