The overwhelming vote in support of entering talks on a new national agreement at the ICTU's special delegate conference yesterday was not Unexpected There is a widespread awareness of the benefits that have flowed from previous agreements for almost a decade. Provided the right kind of deal can be struck this time, few union members would disagree with the proposition that more is to be lost from a reversion to the old free-for-all habits from a fair and rational approach to a range of issues affecting living standards, including incomes and social objectives.
As the vote showed, about one-sixth of delegates rejected talks, partly from disillusionment over the Programme for Competitiveness and Work and a feeling that its main beneficiaries have been the employers; partly from a sense that a centralised policy undermines the union movement. One of the chief proponents of this view, Mr Mick O'Reilly of the ATGWU, argued against the "referendum" approach -which confined the union role to finding out the reaction of members to national agreements every two or three years. Mr O'Reilly was in a minority, but it was clear that most of the delegates had no intention of endorsing a new agreement which could arguably have this effect.
In the coming talks, which will inevitably be overshadowed by the Government's preparation for the next general election, the unions' need for self-assertiveness at a time of relative weakness will be a significant factor. There has been a recent tendency to discount what is likely to be on offer in the pre-election budget, on the grounds that it is already virtually off the table and into members' pockets, and to look for more which the Government will have difficulty in conceding. At the same time, there is considerable scope for greater justice in tax reforms though not, perhaps, at the pace and to the extent, that the unions would wish.
But a more telling item than the predictable bargaining over Government fiscal and social policy is the demand for what is, in effect, a cultural change in labour relations. Previous agreements, embodying the notion of co-operation between the two sides of industry, have not produced appropriate mechanisms at company level. The process of social partnership either develops or it dies", said the general secretary of the ICTU, Mr Peter Cassells, yesterday, reflecting the sense that this will be the central question on which a new agreement will stand or fall. There have been some notable recent cases, including the Dunnes dispute, which have strengthened the unions' resolve.
Some voices were raised yesterday cogently arguing against too much militancy in pressing the case for change. If the union hand is overplayed, the losers will not be the international companies which can move to another site in the global landscape, but those who remain to ponder about the division of a smaller economy. On the other hand, employers too must understand that they have more to gain from well-structured relations than the overhanging risk of conflict.