National wage talks - Private sector must be dealt with

Although SIPTU voted overwhelmingly yesterday to enter talks on a new national wage agreement, it did so with a caveat relating to employment standards, specifically job displacement and exploitation.

With the Irish Ferries and GAMA experiences to draw on, members will have to insist that these issues will be addressed by the Government as promised in a separate forum.

It is important that they will be, because Jack O’Connor, the union’s general president, warned that the union would “retain the capacity to march together”, if the talks did not deliver for workers.

With the country’s largest union having declared for the talks, it would seem that the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) will now give its imprimatur for the opening of talks.

Those talks will have to take on board a reservation voiced by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), which is concerned that public sector pay increases could jeopardise the economy’s competitiveness.

In its latest Quarterly Economic Commentary it points out that public servants already earn significantly more than workers in the private sector and also enjoy better pension entitlements.

Undoubtedly, benchmarking has given a major boost to workers in the public sector, although the immediate benefits may not be wholly visible to the general public.

The expectations of those workers in the private sector must be dealt with on a realistic basis in the forthcoming talks.