Unions fail to multiply numbers

UNIONS have failed to attract enough new members as employment soars to unprecedented levels, Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) general secretary David Begg said yesterday.

With a new round of social partnership talks due to begin towards the end of this month, Mr Begg conceded that unions had not been proactive enough in recruiting new members.

Although union membership is up by 15,000, the rise is a drop in the ocean compared with the number of jobs being created. Consequently, from a peak of more than 60% 25 years ago, the percentage of union members has dropped to below 30% when the public sector is excluded.

“It’s a fair point that a lot needs to be done. Unions have operated on the basis that, to some extent, they have a captive audience and haven’t tried to market themselves,” Mr Begg told RTÉ yesterday. “We have a lot of work to do there. I would reckon we could increase union membership very substantially if we had the will on our own side to invest in it and invest in all of the marketing efforts that people have to make if they want to gain membership.”

With a new round of national pay talks looming, Mr Begg said the issue would have to be addressed after consensus on a national deal is reached. Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has indicated a willingness to address the key concerns of unions in forthcoming talks and pledged that the interests of low and middle-income earners, pensions, health and education would be addressed.

In addition, the Government has made commitments during the Irish Ferries crisis to tackle the issues of jobs displacement and workers’ rights.

With informal contacts between all the social partners now frequent in advance of formal talks, Mr Begg said it was vital that exploitation be addressed separately from the main thrust of partnership talks.

“When we do start talking we want to give priority to these labour market issues relating to displacement of people and exploitation of people. We see that as necessary because, if you allow that to become ensnared in general talks about pay and things like that, the danger is that the correct attention won’t be paid to it. So, we want to try and make sure that there is a clear understanding.”

Yesterday, the Government spokesperson said preparatory work for talks was well underway.

However, a final agenda and schedule is not expected to be cemented until the Taoiseach returns from an official trip to India next week.