Unions show their teeth but where's the bite?
BY ROBBIE MacGABHANN
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Cassells and Geraghty have a lot of work to do to convince the general
public that they can deliver
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What a difference a weekend can make. Last week, in the aftermath of
the budget, spokespersons from the Irish Trade Union movement
leadership were expressing happiness at the general tenor of the tax
cuts on the budget. Yes they had some problems with the failures on
childcare etc, but these were muted.
By Sunday, all was changed utterly, and by Monday, SIPTU had withdrawn
from the negotiations on a successor to the Partnership 2000
employer-union wage negotiations.
On Wednesday, 1 December, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU)
welcomed the £942 million in tax cuts. The ICTU concerns were
articulated by a spokesperson who said that the tax reforms ``must not
be seen as a substitute for decent pay increases''. The social welfare
increases were no more than the ``beginning of a move towards a fairer
society''.
SIPTU President Des Geraghty also welcomed the scale of the tax
package on 1 December. He did, however, point out that many of the
measures would increase inequality.
This week, ICTU general secretary Peter Cassells has taken a much
harder line. Suddenly, the failure of the budget ``to introduce any
substantial improvements for low paid workers is unacceptable''.
Des Geraghty, speaking on 6 December, had also suddenly found that his
position had hardened. ``We are not going back into those talks until
we know the government position on low pay.''
On the issue of the unfair taxation of one-worker families, Charlie
McCreevy U-turned slightly yesterday, 8 December. However, today there
remains the glaring problem of low paid workers still in the tax net,
a complete failure to produce adequate social welfare increases and a
derisory increase in child benefit.
The trade union movement miscalculated badly last week. Their strategy
was that the budget was just round one in dealing with the issues of
low pay and childcare and systematic social exclusion. This coming
round of partnership negotiations would help resolve these outstanding
issues.
However this is the fifth such round of negotiations over the past 12
years, a period where the low paid, the child minders and the
unemployed were overlooked. Cassells and Geraghty have a lot of work
to do to convince the general public that they can deliver on these
issues this time around. It will take a lot more than good soundbites.
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