TRADE union recognition and partnership at local level will be the strategic priorities of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions under the new national agreement, Partnership 2000.
Speaking after the ICTU special conference where delegates voted by 217 votes to 134 for the deal, the general secretary, Mr Peter Cassells, said the high No vote reflected "widespread dissatisfaction with the refusal of many employers and managers to develop a real partnership with workers and their unions.
"The process of partnership came close to dying because of the experience of many workers under previous agreements. "Real partnership is about more than profit sharing. It is very much about power sharing.
There had been fears that Partnership 2000 would be rejected in the event, the 83 vote margin was the narrowest since the new generation of national agreements began in 1987 with the Programme for National Recovery.
The argument against a new agreement was most cogently put by Mr Mick O'Reilly, of the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union. He said the conference was "in danger of alienating large sections of the trade union movement, particularly in the private sector". He claimed opponents of the deal spoke for the majority of trade unionists.
"We were told Partnership 2000 was a new beginning and was going to learn from the mistakes of other programmes. The fundamental thing about this programme is that it's not new.
"The problem we have is the mindset which dominates the majority of leaders of Congress. The mindset which says success is an agreement and failure is not to have an agreement. When this is the dominant view you always get an agreement, but that agreement is at the expense of our own values and members. In fact, the greatest failure of the agreement is the lack of any progress whatsoever on the question of trade union recognition."
The alternative "is trusting our members and getting back to what this movement is about. At times that means conflict, not consensus".
The general secretary of the Public Service Executive Union, Mr Dan Murphy, said the new programme was not perfect. "The problem is that the critics have not put forward alternatives which are equally viable.
"Some criticisms are what I can only describe as `wish lists'. I don't intend wasting the time of conference referring to them. People who wish to live in fantasy land are entitled to live there but they should not expect that others will want to join them."
Across Europe, living standards were declining, taxation increasing, social protection being lost and trade unions being marginalised. Other trade unionists "would give their eye teeth to be in our position".
Through national agreements it - had been possible not just to negotiate on pay, but taxation, and all the other factors that determined members' living standards. "It makes no sense to suggest that we should throw away the gains of the past 10 years, which are enhanced and consolidated in this programme."
The Mandate general secretary, Mr Owen Nulty, whose members voted almost unanimously against the agreement, said he accepted that the best deal possible had been negotiated. But it was of little value to his members who were in part time employment, earning £4,000 or £5,000 a year.
Partnership 2000 would continue to allow big business to replace meaningful permanent jobs with casual, part time work. It would leave retailing, which has 12 per cent of the workforce, as a "Cinderella sector".
The Government later welcomed the outcome of the conference. A spokesman said it put in place the institutional infrastructure necessary to secure continued economic growth and social progress.