Siptu vote paves way for pay deal to be ratified

Siptu, the State's largest union, has voted overwhelmingly in favour of the new national partnership agreement, paving the way for its formal ratification by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) next month.

The ballot of Siptu's 200,000 members yesterday returned a result of 72 per cent in favour of accepting the proposed agreement, Towards 2016, which includes a 10 per cent pay rise for workers over 27 months.

The union's endorsement follows the acceptance of the agreement by Impact, which represents 56,000 mainly public sector workers, and the largest teachers union, the INTO, representing 27,000 primary school teachers. These unions will now cast yes votes at the Ictu special delegate conference on September 5th.

The conference brings together all the constituent unions of Ictu to vote to accept or reject the partnership agreement. Siptu, Impact and the INTO will together have more than 35 per cent of the voting power, making the ratification of the agreement increasingly likely.

Mandate, one of the largest unions opposing the agreement, has said it does not intend to vote or attend the Ictu conference. The union, which represents around 25,000 workers in the retail and bar trades, said the pay increases promised in the agreement will be negated by increases in inflation.

It is instead issuing individual pay claims to all major retailers.

A number of larger unions, including the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO), teachers unions, the ASTI and TUI, and the ATGWU are still in the process of balloting members.

The ATGWU with around 18,000 members is recommending a no vote. The union opposes centralised bargaining, but it also claims that the agreement is a bad deal for workers, given the rapid increase in the cost of living.

However, even if a majority of these larger unions vote no, the Siptu decision makes it unlikely there will be enough opposition to the agreement to stop its ratification.

Despite the impending increases in gas and electricity prices and the rise in mortgage interest rates, Siptu general secretary Joe O'Flynn said yesterday the agreement would protect workers living standards.

"The proposed 10 per cent pay increase over 27 months will exceed all available projections of inflation."

In negotiating the deal, Siptu had fought for the pay rises on the basis that inflation would increase beyond 4 per cent annually, while other bodies had predicted lower inflation rates, he said.

The agreement would also protect labour standards and guard against the threat of displacement and exploitative work practices, he added.

National Partnership Agreement Towards 2016: main points

Pay, the workplace and employment rights compliance

• 10 per cent pay increase in four phases over 27 months

• Additional half per cent increase for those earning €10.25 per hour or less;

• Minimum wage increase to be agreed by September 1st and applied from next January;

• Green Paper on pensions to be published within 12 months;

• Office of Director for Employment Rights Compliance (ODERC), to be established, staffed by 90 labour inspectors;

• New legislation to prevent employers from making people redundant in order to replace them with cheaper labour;

• New penalties of up to €250,000 and/or prison for breaches of employment law.

Social and macroeconomic measures

• Lowest social welfare rate to be raised to 30 per cent of gross average industrial earnings in 2007;

• 27,000 social housing units to be provided in next three years;

• Provision of 500 primary care teams;

• Family carers strategy to be developed by end of 2007.