THE general secretary of the ICTU, Mr Peter Cassells, has warned employers that unless there is "genuine partnership" in the workplace, there will not be any more national agreements. He wondered whether the current agreement Partnership 2000 - could last its full term.
Addressing the ICTU biennial conference in Belfast yesterday, Mr Cassells said the old trade union agenda of negotiating wage increases had achieved much but it had "failed totally to penetrate the citadels of capital and ownership in the workplace".
Agreeing to share profits and to give workers a real stake in the company is a much bigger issue, with far greater implications for both the organisations and the workers, than paying a few quid above the odds, he said.
The employers' organisation, IBEC, responding to ICTU's comments on Partnership 2000, said it would fully honour the terms of the agreement and expected the ICTU to do likewise.
"The agreement provides for a maximum payment of 9.25 per cent of basic pay costs and a partnership chapter for non-adversarial discussions at enterprise level, and anything that comes from this must be voluntary," IBEC said.
Mr John McDonnell of SIPTU urged unions to confront what he said amounted to a concerted campaign by some employers, media commentators and political parties who were claiming that a rebalancing of the social welfare system was necessary if young people were to be attracted into the workforce.
"We must replace this type of reactionary thinking by establishing clearly where the problem lies - pay rates are too low, income tax and PRSI rates are too high for the lower-paid and medical and other benefits are lost even at very low rates of pay."