Deal hinges on decisive Government intervention

THEY say patience is a virtue found rarely in a woman and never in a man, but this week the Government’s Dermot McCarthy is c bucking that trend.

For the last five days, the Secretary General has presided over the debate on a national wage agreement with the same patience he displayed during the first round of talks which failed at the end of July.

However, even Mr McCarthy’s patience must now be wearing thin because coming into the weekend the two sides, outwardly at least, seemed to have moved not one iota closer to compromise. Unions and employers remained diametrically opposed on collective bargaining legislation.

They were unequivocal that new laws must be enacted to replace or reinvigorate the 2001 and 2004 Industrial Relations Acts, which were rendered impotent by the Ryanair Supreme Court ruling. The unions believe their ability to represent workers in non-union firms has been severely diluted by this ruling.

However, employers said that, in the tough economic climate, multinationals will not invest here if they must be bound by constrictive industrial relations shackles. On pensions, there was also no common ground with unions still pursuing mandatory secondary pension entitlements for all employees. The arena of pay threw up a number of conundrums which must be addressed today. The low paid are a primary focus of unions who are unwilling to allow the standard of living for those earning on or below the average industrial wage to be compromised by increases which fall well below inflation.

A flat-rate increase is still a core demand of several of the unions.

Employers body IBEC has argued the economy is stretched to capacity with sky-rocketing unemployment and have maintained that every echelon of the workforce has or needs to accept that wage restraint is what will save jobs in such a tough economic climate.

There is, to some degree, a sympathetic ear to that mantra from the union side.

Certain public service representatives have indicated a percentage of the workforce in their sector are sympathetic to the need for realism in terms of what the exchequer can or cannot bear. They are willing to accept a pay pause so long as, during the lifetime of any new national agreement, they are as well remunerated as their counterparts in the private sector. It is here that divisions, while not publicly acknowledged as yet, are emerging in the trade union movement.

SIPTU, while predominantly a private sector union, still has the largest number of public sector workers and it has made it clear that all its members face rising cost of living expenses which must be supported by pay increases.

For the time being at least, the union wants those increases to be immediate, though that could change if increased percentages are offered in lieu of a delay.

He may have acted as the referee in the slugging match to date, but over the next 24 hours Dermot McCarthy is going to have to enter the fray himself, backed up by the not inconsiderable weight of Taoiseach Brian Cowen.

It is quite clear that without decisive third party intervention by the Government there will be no new national wage agreement.

Whatever the Government’s strategy, after the bruising defeat on Lisbon, Mr Cowen cannot afford not to strike a deal to save social partnership. The gloves are coming off.