SIPTU leaders back talks on fresh pay agreement

SIPTU will decide at the end of the month whether to enter a new national pay agreement.

The union’s national executive yesterday recommended beginning talks and SIPTU will hold a special conference, on January 31, to allow delegates vote on the recommendation.

A comfortable “yes” vote is expected, enabling union leadership to begin talks with the Government and social partners on a possible new national pay agreement.

The most recent agreement, Sustaining Progress, expired at the end of last year.

The social partners were expected to begin talks on its replacement last November.

SIPTU had originally scheduled its special delegates’ conference for October, with the aim of securing a yes vote to allow talks to begin in November.

The union adjourned the conference because of its anger at the exploitation of migrant workers and the Irish Ferries dispute.

The union refused to countenance social partnership talks until the Government committed to tackling exploitation and issues like jobs displacement.

That decision forced the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) to follow suit, apparently leaving the future of social partnership - deemed crucial to industrial relations stability - in jeopardy.

Following the resolution of the Irish Ferries dispute, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern undertook to discuss the protection of vulnerable workers and related issues as a first strand of the social partnership negotiations.

Mr Ahern’s department gave the undertaking in a letter to ICTU, which is also expected to enter into talks.

SIPTU, meanwhile, will hold a conference on the proposed EU Services Directive at Liberty Hall in Dublin today.

SIPTU is opposed to the directive, believing it would jeopardise workers’ rights.