Partnership deals are a thing of the past

WHY doesn’t the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) admit that the so-called partnership deals are dead, at least in their current form?

They should stop trying to revive a dying process.

This time only a handful of unions favour such a deal.

They include SIPTU, IMPACT, the Public Service Executive Union (PSEU) and the Association of Higher Civil and Public Servants (AHCPS).

Most of the other unions, such as Mandate — the third largest in the country, representing mostly poorly-paid bar staff and shop workers — and the Irish Bank Official’s Association (IBOA), said they will not be bound by any new partnership deal.

The Civil, Public and Services Union (CPSU), the largest union representing civil servants, at its recent annual conference overwhelmingly passed a motion instructing “the incoming national executive to vote against any further national wage agreements that contain the inability to pay clause”.

This rules out CPSU involvement in any further pay talks as there is no move to get rid of that hideous clause from any new partnership deal.

In addition, the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers Union (ATGWU) — our fourth largest — has opposed most of these recent partnership deals and will be rejecting this new one also. That’s if it ever sees the light of day.

It’s time for ICTU finally to admit the reality that ‘partnership’, at least in its current form, is no longer the way forward for workers or indeed for society in general.

Paul Kinsella

53 Lorcan Grove

Santry

Dublin 9