IMPACT CONFERENCE:THE INCOMING general secretary of Impact, the largest public service union, has criticised attempts by political groups to influence internal decision making.
Speaking at the union’s biennial conference in Kilkenny, Shay Cody said just as it would be unacceptable for Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael or the Labour Party to influence internal decisions, it was equally unacceptable for the Socialist Party, the Socialist Workers Party or any other micro-organisation “to do the same in this very hall”.
He said Impact was an influential union that was “resistant to manipulation by those who seek to manipulate and capture our organisation for narrow politically sectarian ends”. Mr Cody was ratified by the conference to succeed Peter McLoone when he retires as general secretary of the union later in the summer.
In his address to the conference, Mr McLoone questioned the capacity of senior management in the public service to drive the transformation and change agenda provided for under the Croke Park deal.
He said Taoiseach Brian Cowen, “must get up off his backside” and get all key public service management together as their approach to reform was not working.
“And I put the politicians and management on notice that willing public servants will not be the fall guys for your failure to implement the letter and spirit of the Croke Park deal if it is accepted by Impact and other unions in ballots now under way.”
Mr McLoone said on occasions in the past, workers had delivered on modernisation agreements, only to be blamed and vilified in the media for failures that arose from senior management’s unwillingness and inability to seize the opportunity for real change.
In his acceptance speech, Mr Cody said Impact’s immediate industrial relations priority was to reach agreement with employers “that will halt the slide and commence the process of getting our money back”.
“This applies not just to the public service but to our members in Aer Lingus, Eircom, in the Dublin Airport Authority, and in the community and voluntary sectors.”
He said Impact was dealing with the implications of a government that considered itself – in the words of the Minister for Finance – to be at war with the public service, its workers and their unions.
Mr Cody said a new internal commission on trade union organisation, which has been established by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, must address the fact there are too many trade unions around the country.
He said many small ones were “under-resourced, financially weak and unable to defend their members in an adequate fashion”.
He said that while argument and debate were an essential way of reaching the best conclusions within the union in the current circumstances, this had to take place without rancour.
“I have observed a coarseness enter into some of our recent debates with the bone fides of executives and negotiators being questioned. This must stop.”