ANALYSIS:FRIDAY WILL see the start of a campaign by the trade union movement to persuade the Government that there is a fairer and better alternative to its own plan for bringing the public finances back into order, writes MARTIN WALL
The campaign will be multi-layered, beginning with protest marches and rallies this week and next but moving on to strikes later in the month which could bring the public sector to a halt. There are also ballots under way for industrial action in private sector companies where wage cuts have been introduced or threatened or where the pay deal agreed last autumn – or an alternative – have not been implemented.
The extent of this potential industrial relations conflict in the private sector or the type of action envisaged remains unclear at this stage. However, just as the campaign by the trade union movement is multi-pronged, there is also a range of strategies and motivations behind the individual actions planned.
The day of action on Friday is being organised by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) which has stressed that the protests will not constitute a strike. However, depending on the numbers who turn out around the country it could end up as an unofficial half-day stoppage in all but name.
Ictu says it genuinely believes that the Government’s economic strategy, involving large scale public expenditure reductions, will be counter-productive and lead to a deflationary spiral. It wants to galvanise as much of the public as possible behind the concept of a fairer alternative involving dealing with the public finances over a longer period of time and introducing new taxes for the wealthy.
Union leaders such as Blair Horan of the CPSU have been publicly advocating higher tax levels as recently as last week as they entered Government Buildings for talks on public sector pay – a process which does not directly involve discussion on tax.
However, senior trade union leaders accept in private that given the public comments of Ministers over recent weeks, the prospect of the Government changing tack on new taxes (other than a carbon tax) in the immediate term is unlikely. As The Irish Times reveals today, Peter McLoone, the general secretary of Impact, wrote as much in a private letter to staff last Friday in which he stated: “In fact, in my view, further increases in existing tax rates in the December budget will simply not feature.”
It is understood that for Ictu, perhaps the most important element in its plan would be a lengthening of the timeframe for dealing with the problem in the public finances as this would avoid the need for measures it believes would be “too brutal, too quick”. However, here too it seems unlikely that the Government is for turning.
In the public sector, the aim of the unions is to secure a commitment from the Government that there will be no further reductions in pay levels, no change in the current pension arrangements and no compulsory redundancies. However, they are prepared to discuss alternative arrangements which would generate the level of savings being sought by the Government through measures other than pay cuts.
In the absence of any deal the planned public sector strike scheduled for Tuesday, November 24th, will go ahead.
Already Impact, the country’s largest public sector union, has obtained a mandate from its 55,000 public sector members to take part. Other unions are balloting on the issue with results due over the next week or so.
To some extent the strong line being taken by the public sector unions now is a reaction to their own relative passivity over the introduction of the pension levy earlier this year.
At that time only one union, the CPSU, took industrial action. Its 13,000 members who are in the main lower-paid civil servants went on strike for a day. There was some amelioration of the application of the levy in April and after this the campaign petered out. Impact did not manage to secure a large enough vote to allow it to take part in a one-day stoppage planned by Ictu, while the Association of Higher Civil and Public Servants voted not to participate.
Instead, unions decided to go back into talks with the Government last April on an overall economic recovery agreement – a process which went nowhere. Many union leaders now maintain that it was a serious mistake to re-enter these discussions with the Government.
Another element driving the current union campaign is that some union leaders believe that not only did they not get any thanks from the Government for opting for talks rather than confrontation in the spring but, rather, they were openly mocked by Ministers for their inaction.
Last week in a TV interview, Peter McLoone pointedly referred to comments made by the Minister for Finance a number of months ago that if governments in other countries had taken some of the measures implemented in Ireland, there would have been riots on the streets.
The Impact leader maintained that many ordinary trade union members viewed these remarks as the Minister sneering at them.
Public sector union leaders argue privately that the militancy emerging at present is being driven from the grass roots.
Certainly the Impact vote – more than 86 per cent in favour of strike action – shows a deep sense of anger among ordinary members, as does the turnouts at the recent meetings of the new 24/7 Alliance which represents groups such as gardaí, nurses and prison officers etc who provide round-the-clock services.
However, union leaders also maintain that if they are to retain credibility with the members – who, after all, pay the subscription fees – they will have to fight on this occasion if no agreement can be reached with the Government.
One very senior trade union leader told The Irish Times last month he recognised that if the Government wanted to force through pay cuts it probably would succeed but that this victory would come at a severe price and Ministers would know that they had been in a fight at the end of it.
- Martin Wall is Industry Correspondent