Social partnership - Stakes are too high for deal to fail

The protest planned for later this week on the issue of preventing Irish employers from replacing workers with lower-paid foreign ones, will reflect the level of support there is for it.

The stand taken by the country’s largest trade union, SIPTU, is morally correct and warrants the unstinted support of their colleagues in the Irish Congress of Trade Unions.

The stand-off currently between SIPTU and Irish Ferries has the potential to grievously affect the concept of social partnership, which would be utterly detrimental to the economy.