Unions threaten to snub social partnership talks

SIPTU and the TEEU yesterday warned they may not take part in a new social partnership agreement because the Government has not delivered upon promises in the existing agreement.

In a joint statement the unions, which between them represent 260,000 workers, said there was an assumption that talks on a new agreement were “an automatic given”.

“Our members will be assessing any proposal to enter talks on the basis of how far the Government has delivered on the existing agreement,” they said. “They will be particularly looking at what has been done on employment rights compliance, given the central role this issue played in securing the support of workers for Towards 2016. It is timely to remind the Government of the scale of the employment rights compliance deficit.”