Today's strike at Dublin Bus will cause serious inconvenience and some financial loss to a large number of citizens and commuters. It is an unfortunate curtain-raiser to the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness (PPF), endorsed yesterday by a special delegate conference of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, and designed to ensure industrial peace and social advancement over the coming years. The bus dispute revolves around a 20 per cent pay claim, lodged by the National Bus and Railworkers' Union (NBRU), which is not affiliated to Congress. And the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, insisted in the Dail that Government money will not be provided to finance any cost-increasing pay claim. Given management's demand for self-financing productivity arrangements and trade-union insistence that much of the problem arises from inadequate State funding, the outlook is bleak. Escalating industrial action has been planned for the coming weeks, leading to an all-out strike from April 10th, which could affect all forms of public transport.
Trade union militancy and a demand for pay increases that exceeds the terms laid down in the PPF is not confined to the NBRU. Already, a number of unions, including Mandate and the Building and Allied Trades' Union, have indicated they will adopt this course of action. The Teachers' Union of Ireland withdrew from negotiations on the PPF and the ATGWU is strongly opposed to its terms. In that climate, the ability of the ICTU to maintain discipline amongst its members and to implement the terms of the PPF is likely to be severely tested.
Running for a period of 33 months, the PPF involves agreement on pay and conditions of employment, tax reform, life-long learning and family friendly policies, including childcare. Basic pay will rise by 5.5 per cent in each of the first two twelve-month periods, or by a minimum of £12 and £11 a week, while in the final nine-month period, a four per cent rise is envisaged, or a minimum of £9. The statutory minimum wage will rise from £4.40 an hour this year to £5.00 in 2002.
Concessions to low-paid workers will be made through exempting the first £200 from PRSI charges and raising the health levy ceiling to £280 a week. In addition, teachers and many civil servants will get a three per cent "early settlers" award, while the Government has committed itself to spending at least £1.5 billion on social inclusion measures over the next three years. An undertaking by the Government to introduce significant tax breaks should ensure net income rises of between 25 and 32 per cent over three years. The package has been designed to ensure industrial peace, while sharing the fruits of economic growth more equitably than happened under previous social contracts. The cost of the entire package has been estimated at almost £6 billion. An ambitious element of the agreement involves an attempt to break the old system of pay relativities within the public sector. Union negotiators have agreed a bench-marking approach that could lead to salary levels for the main grades in the civil and public service being set in the context of private sector pay. A report on bench-marking is due to be published in 2002 and all outstanding special pay claims will be processed through this mechanism.
There is no guarantee that the new approach will succeed. The last attempt to get rid of pay relativities, through a "restructuring" clause in the Programme for Economic and Social Progress failed abysmally. Still, the promise of three years of industrial peace, generous wage increases for the low paid, and a range of measures promoting social inclusion are positive elements that should be welcomed.