’Wealthy elite pitting workers against one another’

The leader of the country’s largest trade union tonight warned public and private workers were being pitted against each other by a wealthy elite who are escaping the brunt of the economic crisis.

Siptu’s Jack O’Connor insisted his organisation would not fall foul of an alleged divide-and-conquer strategy by an establishment which he claimed was getting off “scott-free” while others are forced to suffer.

Mr O’Connor told delegates at the Siptu centenary conference Government had made it clear the burden of the gross mismanagement of the economy will be borne exclusively by working people and those who depend most on public services while those at the top of society are to be insulated as far as possible.

“We refuse to succumb to the disingenuous representation of the issue in terms of a conflict between workers in the private sector and those in the public sector and those dependent on welfare,” he said.

“We insist on inconveniently highlighting the omission of the wealthy from this equation, and we insist on pointing out the pernicious purpose of the strategy of dividing worker against worker while they escape scott-free.”

Mr O’Connor claimed there has been attempts to rewrite history by apologists for the rich elite in society.

He said the main objective was to remove inconvenient truths from the record and divide workers in order to make them pay for an economic crisis not of their making.

Elsewhere the trade unionist said there was also no question of suspending the renewed campaign that Siptu and Congress were embarking on and maintained it was critically important to maximise public support for its alternative analysis, to be based on equity and fairness.

“We do not suggest for a moment that there is some kind of pain-free or risk-free formula for overcoming the difficulties,” said Mr O’Connor.

“Indeed, we believe there is no viable alternative to an agreement between all parties on a fairer, better way.

“However, we are not talking about woolly words and cuddly concepts like the myth of social partnership which has been shown to provide a surplus of access and a deficit of influence. It is past time to call a spade a spade.

“We are talking about a clear and transparent agreement between parties representing different interests in the economy and in society.”

Throughout the week Siptu members at the conference will debate the most radical restructuring of the union since its origins in the foundation of the Irish Transport and General Workers union in 1909.

Other items on the agenda include the current economic crisis, the planned campaign by the ICTU and the prospects for a new national agreement.