Unions are prepared to enter a new ‘pact’

A SENIOR figure in the trade union movement has said that, in spite of the collapse of social partnership, unions are prepared to enter into a new “framework or pact” with employers and the Government in the face of the economic crisis.

IMPACT general secretary Shay Cody said that while the Croke Park deal on public service reform was an agreement between employers and staff, it was not a social partnership agreement.

“Nevertheless, IMPACT was and remains a supporter of social partnership,” he told delegates at his union’s conferences in Tralee.