BALLOTS ON strike action are expected to be on the agenda when the executive council of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) meets tomorrow to consider its next move following Saturday’s massive protest march in Dublin.
At the same time, informal contacts have been continuing in recent days between senior union leaders and Government and business representatives on a possible resumption of social partnership talks on an economic recovery plan. “The back channel is alive and well,” Government sources said last night.
There was an acceptance on the Government side that the weekend protest was inevitable. “They needed to have their march.” However, legislation to introduce the controversial pension levy would proceed this week.
Both Government and union sources were wary of any formal meeting this week unless some concrete result was likely to emerge.
“It may well happen,” Government sources told The Irish Times. “Our anxiety is that re-engaging without some sense that it was going to go somewhere might not be that bright.”
Before agreeing to a meeting, the Government side would need to “establish that there was business to be done”.
There is a nervousness at Government level about so-called “tweaking” of the pension levy legislation for fear that this would be seen as a retreat from the fundamental objective to make savings.
Unions are expected this week to consider balloting members in the public and private sectors on industrial action in protest at the Government’s handling of the economic crisis. This follows the mass protest in Dublin in which, according to Garda estimates, up to 120,000 people took part.
“You can say with certainty that the Ictu executive will recognise that there has to be another stage to this,” a senior union leader said last night.
Informed sources said the Ictu executive was likely to consider moves which would involve all unions balloting members on industrial action. Sources said this would not necessarily mean there would be mass strikes but rather that the unions would be equipped with a mandate if this should prove necessary in the future.
Already lower-paid civil servants are to stage strike action on Thursday – it will affect all Government departments and social welfare offices.
A number of other individual public sector unions, including teachers, have begun balloting their members on strike action.
At the same time, senior union leaders confirmed last night that informal contacts had been taking place both with the Government and employers in recent days over a possible resumption of talks on a national economic recovery plan.
Talks on such a deal broke down earlier this month over the Government’s plans for the pension levy in the public service.
However, senior union sources said if any new talks were to get under way there would have to be some indications that they would be successful.
Ictu general secretary David Begg said yesterday there were five different elements to the current difficulties, and union sources said later that these five elements were effectively a distillation of Ictu’s 10-point recovery plan.
Union sources said the public service levy could be examined as part of the review of fiscal problems.
It is expected that Ictu would be looking for taxation measures as a counter-balance to the pension levy to signal that all aspects of society would be contributing to the recovery effort.
Meanwhile, Fine Gael deputy leader Richard Bruton told The Irish Times that “the response to the march has to be a comprehensive programme that people can have faith in”.
Mr Bruton said people did not believe the Government had a strategy but was like a “rabbit caught in the headlights” of a car.