Implementation of the new social partnership programme begins next week following yesterday's decision by employers and unions to ratify it.Union delegates voted by 195 votes to 147 to endorse the agreement, Sustaining Progress, at a special conference of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions in Dublin.
The result was closer than expected because about 35 delegates mandated to vote "yes" had, apparently, left the meeting before the show-of-hands vote was taken.
IBEC, the employers' body, also ratified the deal by a "majority vote" - it declined to give a breakdown - at a meeting of its national council, following consultations with members throughout the State.
It said members had become disillusioned with the previous partnership deal, the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness, and that Sustaining Progress offered "a new beginning".
At the ICTU conference, however, there were signs of increasing trade union discontent about the partnership process.
Mr Larry Broderick of the Irish Bank Officials' Association drew the loudest applause of the conference when he said the failure to secure a flat rate increase for people on low pay, after 10 years of an economic boom, was an "absolute disgrace".
"Whether you are in the public or private sector this is a bad agreement and does nothing to address low pay," he claimed. The binding arbitration element, he added, had taken away the right of unions to make decisions for their members and was an "extraordinary concession".
However, Mr Dan Murphy of the Public Service Executive Union said there was little to be said against the programme unless its detractors had a better alternative.
"Of course there are defects. We do have to engage with the other side and they do have a point of view. Most people recognise that."
Even some of those backing the deal, however, offered a downbeat assessment of its merits and the prospect of continuing partnership.
Mr Séamus Dooley of the National Union of Journalists said it was with a "heavy heart" that the union had voted for the deal, albeit by a six-to-one majority.
"I strongly believe that this may well be the last national agreement of its type and in the coming 18 months we need to put our unions on a strong war footing and to prepare for a genuine battle with the Government and employers."
Responding to claims that the 7 per cent pay increase over 18 months would not keep pace with the cost of living, Congress general secretary Mr David Begg said he hadn't the "slightest doubt" that inflation would be "substantially down at the end of the year".
He also said there was not a "chance in hell" of the binding arbitration element being carried forward into future agreements if it was abused by employers.
IBEC, in a statement following its council meeting, said binding arbitration of disputes would provide "a much more acceptable industrial relations climate".
Mr Turlough O'Sullivan, IBEC's director general, said IBEC, the ICTU and the Government had endorsed the agreement in good faith "with a strong emphasis on the need for co-operation with normal ongoing change at the level of the enterprise.
"Flexibility and adaptability are absolute requirements for business at this testing time," he said.
Mr O'Sullivan also said the provisions requiring that account be taken of "the economic, commercial and employment circumstances" of each enterprise would be "a greater feature in the implementation of this agreement".
Unions may read this as a warning that a significant number of employers will plead inability to meet all or part of the pay terms of the deal.
Such cases will, under the terms of the agreement, be referred to independent assessment and, if necessary, binding arbitration by the Labour Court.
Ratification of the agreement paves the way for payment of the first 25 per cent of the benchmarking awards, which is to be backdated to December 2001, to public servants. Basic pay increases in the private sector kick in at various dates through the year, based on traditional payment dates in different sectors.
A Government spokesman said the "process of implementation" of the agreement, which includes a range of social initiatives as well as pay terms, would begin next week.
Negotiations on pay increases for the latter 18 months of the agreement, which runs for three years overall, are likely to begin next March.