Leaders under fire

AT the public service negotiations in Croke Park recently, it seemed trade union leaders were “transformed” into speaking the same language as the Government.

A warning to public service workers that they must separate their anger over the Government’s handling of the banking crisis from the public service proposals came not from Finance Minister Brian Lenihan but from SIPTU’s Jack O’Connor.

This was followed by Tom Geraghty of ICTU who praised the public service proposals as “an opportunity for the unions to input into the Government’s stated intentions to disimprove pensions”. It is time for union members to dispose of this toxic leadership before it devalues the entire labour movement.