Senior union activists seek rejection of pay deal

A group of senior activists from four unions today urged members to vote against the new national pay deal, Towards 2016.

At a press conference in Dublin today, representatives from Siptu, Asti, the INO and the CWU said the deal was an example of the Irish Congress of Trade Union (Ictu) leaders losing touch with grassroots union members.

The representatives were acting in a personal capacity and not speaking for their unions as a whole.

Kieran Allen, a Siptu member and spokesman for today's group, said the deal offered less than a 4.4 per cent pay increase a year that would be below the cost-of-living increases faced by workers this year.

Inflation is running 3.9 per cent, he said, and with the VHI looking for a 12.5 per cent increase on top of rises in the cost of petrol, electricity and gas, workers would be out of pocket.

In return for a wage increase below the cost of living, he said workers were being coerced into agreeing to productivity increases - including changes to working practices and unsociable hours.

He also noted that while the agreement contained an "inability" to pay clause, there was no "ability to pay" clause, meaning that the employers had an opt-out mechanism. Siptu are due to discuss the deal at a conference next Tuesday.

"Staff will be asked to 'voluntarily' work unsociable hours but there is no provision in the agreement for overtime or special rates," Mr Allen said.

Concern was also expressed that worker protections to prevent a repeat of the Irish Ferries scenario - where existing workers were asked to accept a dramatic drop in wages or the option to leave the company - did not form part of the agreement.

In fact, said Jo Tully, vice president of the INO, what the agreement enshrines is that employers have the right to outsource in the proposed new agreement.

Des Derwin, from the Siptu Dublin representative executive, said although there was always a third of members in his section that opposed every wage deal, he would be opposing the deal because of the levels of pay on offer.

He said that a starting point for companies making significant profits would be 10 per cent, a figure that could be negotiated down depending on the circumstances of the individual company.

Pat Cahill, former Asti president and a member of the Asti central executive that recently recommended the rejection of the deal, said that "partnership has outlived its usefulness".

Mr Cahill said that partnership had been a good idea but it had become unequal as evidenced by the proposed deal, which was "not even a pay rise and not even a cost of living increase. What we are being offered is coercion".

The ATGWU also called for the rejection of the deal, claiming that a better one could be negotiated for workers.

Michael O'Reilly, regional secretary, said the "wage increases will shrivel up after inflation. Average earners can only hope to receive a few euros a week extra after tax and inflation. This is hardly the reward people deserve for producing the highest economic growth rate in Europe."

The ATGWU joins the leadership of the Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI), the Asti, and the Irish Bank Officials' Association (IBOA) in calling for a rejection of the deal.

Recommending acceptance of the deal are the Technical Engineering and Electrical Union and the Irish National Teachers' Organisation.

In a sign of growing discontent with the agreement among some unions in the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu), over 300 delegates to a TUI conference, which debated the issue yesterday, unanimously decided to tell members to reject the deal.