SIPTU holds key to pay deal’s survival

IMPLEMENTATION of the latest social partnership agreement could hinge on two meetings being held today by the country’s largest trade union, SIPTU.

The union will first hold a day-long “special delegate conference” in Dublin to discuss the terms obtained in the agreement.

There will be approximately 500 delegates present, and every branch of the union will be represented.

SIPTU president Jack O’Connor will give a presentation on labour standard issues reflected in the agreement, vice president Brendan Hayes will address public sector pay, general secretary Joe O’Flynn will discuss private sector pay, and the union’s chief economist, Manus O’Riordan, will give a briefing on inflation and the economic outlook.

The conference will take place at Jury’s Hotel in Ballsbridge.

The mood at the conference is expected to influence tonight’s meeting of SIPTU’s national executive council, which will decide whether to recommend acceptance or rejection of the agreement to its members.

That meeting is expected to continue into tomorrow, with the decision likely to be known by midday.

While the executive council is expected to recommend acceptance of the agreement, there has been growing dissatisfaction among some members about the terms contained in the deal.

SIPTU’s stance will ultimately be decided by a secret ballot of its 200,000-plus members, which is expected to begin next week and will take approximately a month to complete, with the result to be known in early August.

A no vote would spell the end for the agreement.

Already, a number of other unions, such as Mandate, the Irish Bank Officials’ Association, the Teachers’ Union of Ireland and the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland have come out against the agreement.

They say it contains little for union members and argue that the proposed pay increase of 10% over 27 months would barely cover inflation.

However, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions has insisted that the agreement was the best possible result from months of difficult negotiations with employers’ representatives.

Meanwhile, Fine Gael transport spokeswoman Olivia Mitchell has urged SIPTU members of Aer Lingus to call off a threatened work stoppage scheduled for Thursday.

Seventy-five minute stoppages are planned for Dublin and Shannon airports, with the possibility that a similar action will take place at Cork.

Among the workers’ concerns is the company’s plan to proceed with privatisation.

But Ms Mitchell said the stoppages would cause “huge inconvenience and stress for passengers, further endanger Aer Lingus and make it less attractive for potential investors”.