O’Toole lambasts employers as thousands of workers take to streets

THOUSANDS of people from all over the country marched in protest over redundancy payments yesterday as union bosses warned that unless the Government and employers’ group IBEC agreed to improve the low payments there would be no new national pay deal.

“I think at times it would be easier to do business with the Sopranos than it would with IBEC,” said Irish Congress of Trade Unions President Senator Joe O’Toole said.

However, an IBEC spokesperson described the turnout at many centres nationwide as a dismal failure for the trade unions.

About 3,000 protestors participated in the Dublin demonstration where Mr O’Toole said they were not going to listen to lectures from IBEC about the need to reform redundancy legislation.

Despite 15 years of partnership, employers were still trying to undermine the trade union movement by exploiting workers and refusing to grant union recognition, he said.

SIPTU president Des Geraghty said they wanted every worker to receive a decent redundancy package regardless of their employer’s economic conditions. He said more than 20,000 workers had been made redundant in the past nine months which showed how important the whole issue was.

“The business class has been on strike for the past few years against paying tax which was demonstrated at the recent tribunals,” said Mr Geraghty.

“The employers will continue to defend and protect each other and make sure they don’t go to jail,” he said.

TEEU assistant general secretary Eamon Devoy said the sleeping giant of the trade union movement had awoken over the redundancy issue. He said it was 35 years since the legislation had been improved and the trade unions would not rest until the issue was resolved.

But IBEC director Brendan McGinty said the protests had seriously undermined the prospects of a new national partnership agreement. He said the protest was entirely disproportionate to the complaint in a tiny number of cases employers have been unable to implement Labour Court recommendations on redundancy compensation.

By comparison trade unions had accepted only 60% of the recommendations, he said. The Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association chief executive, Mark Fielding, said millions of euro were almost certainly lost as a result of the stoppages.

He warned the trend towards more job losses would continue unless the factors contributing to firms cutting back, including spiralling labour and insurance, costs were adequately addressed.