Officials were ‘better off in bed than at pay talks’

No real negotiations took place in reaching the new Croke Park agreement proposals for public sector workers, according to TUI president Gerry Craughwell.

In a strongly-worded and well-received address, he said that during the negotiating sessions that led to the announcement of the proposals, most trade union officials “would have been better occupied at home in their beds, rather than sitting around chatting amongst themselves, waiting for unilateral announcements”.

“Negotiation, delegates, in my view, involves two parties with opposing views seeking an accommodation they can live with. Real negotiation does not take place when one of the parties can inflict its will on the other because it has a finger on the nuclear button. Let’s be honest, there was no real negotiation involved in reaching the LRC proposals.”