THE executive of the Technical Engineering and Electrical Union (TEEU) is advising its 25,000 members to vote against Partnership 2000, the new national agreement.
The executive of the Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed, which also met yesterday, has recommended critical acceptance" of the deal to its members. However, the INOU is not entitled to send delegates to the special conference of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, which convenes on Thursday, January 30th, to vote on P2000.
Earlier this week another major union, Mandate, advised its 27,000 members to vote against the package. The executives of several public service unions, which have traditionally supported national agreements, have either called for rejection or abstained from advising members on how to vote.
The TEEU has traditionally opposed national agreements. Yesterday its general secretary, Mr Frank O'Reilly, said his executive was recommending rejection because "the concept of partnership specified in the programme is too shallow.
"While calling for full involvement of the workforce to enhance the prosperity and success of their enterprise, it fails to provide any mechanism for the workforce or union to pursue any form of gain sharing, where none is offered".
He added that the tax concessions proposed fell "far short of the tax reform pursued by the PAYE sector".
Mandate recommended rejection of P2000 because it failed to narrow the gap between low paid workers, who form the bulk of its members, and higher paid groups of trade unionists. It also criticised the agreement for failing to include concrete proposals to combat the increase in casual and part time employment.