The two-yearly delegate conference of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, which took place at the end of June 2005, has laid the foundations for the conclusion of a new national social partnership pact at the end of the year. All the building blocks are seemingly in place, though some dissenting voices remain.
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) held its two-yearly delegate conference in Belfast in late June 2005. The conference addressed 'quality of life' issues, such as childcare provision and 'caring' matters generally. However, the underlying message emanating from the event is that the scene is now set for Ireland's seventh successive social partnership agreement, after Sustaining Progress (IE0301209F and IE0304201N), the sixth national pact, expires later in 2005. If this comes to pass, commentators believe that it would be a 'coming of age' for the partnership process, which was born in crisis in 1987, but is now conducted against the backdrop of a striking economic success story.
Many economic commentators in Ireland - especially those towards the right of the ideological spectrum - now argue that there is no need for social partnership, citing reasons such as labour market flexibility, competitiveness, weaker unions and the need for flexible responses unencumbered by traditional collective bargaining processes in the private and public sectors. It is seen in some quarters as ironic that the most vocal critics of partnership on the trade union side also want to be released from what they perceive as a 'cosy consensus'. They too demand freedom from such a process, and specifically to be allowed to bargain locally. These voices remain in the minority within the ICTU ranks, although some unions have become more strident of late, such as the Irish Bank Officials Association (IBOA) and the Union of Retail, Bar and Administrative Workers (MANDATE) (IE0505204F).
Managing dissent
ICTU may have to look at ways of giving a say to these critical voices. Increasingly - and vocally - they see themselves being swallowed up by the public sector unions and by the Services Industrial Professional and Technical Union (SIPTU), which is the largest union in Ireland by some distance. It is now commonplace at ICTU events to hear unflattering comparisons between the pay of private and public sector workers. In particular, there is a perception in some quarters of the private sector union movement that, due to the public service 'benchmarking' process (IE0207203N) - under which public service pay levels were benchmarked against private sector comparators - private sector pay is lagging behind public sector pay. Such public airing of grievances was a rarity in the past, but such open dissent may even be healthy, in the view of some observers.
In the higher echelons of the key ICTU unions, however, the appeal of the national pay bargaining system retains a strong logic, grounded in the voice that the wider process gives the movement. This is broadly the same for most of those who 'call the shots' on the employers’ side within the Irish Business and Employers Confederation (IBEC). As for the government, as long as Bertie Ahern is Prime Minister (Taoiseach), then the focus of his administration will be very much in favour of continuing with the system as it has evolved. Mr Ahern, along with then opposition leader and future Prime Minister, Charles Haughey, made a political calculation in the mid-1980s that a return to national partnership agreements would be the best way of ensuring that tough economic measures were achieved, without massive industrial disruption. Mr Ahern is not likely to part easily with a process that he believes has paid such handsome dividends and has helped to muffle wider interest group dissent and criticism.
Bricks in place
The glue that holds the partnership pacts together, the national pay deal, was not on the agenda of the 2005 ICTU conference as such. However, the building bricks are in place to construct a pay deal, certainly in the public sector, with a second public sector pay benchmarking process now underway. After securing such well publicised dividends for public servants over the past few years - and with more coming on stream shortly - the majority of public sector unions are well disposed towards a new partnership deal.
In the private sector, meanwhile, despite some dissatisfaction about benchmarking, there has been little controversy surrounding the Sustaining Progress agreement, with the two 18-month stages of the deal seemingly working well for employers and unions, and with pay moderation largely intact (IE0502202F). There is none of the controversy that surrounded the earlier Programme for Prosperity and Fairness agreement (IE0012161F), when a very tight labour market and skill shortages undermined that deal, much to the chagrin of IBEC. There are indications that, having worked well, two 18-month stages could again be on the cards. The fact that the current deal does not have a tax trade-off like most of the previous programmes is unlikely to undermine or dull the appetite for a new agreement. For the potential new deal, there may be some room for manoeuvre on tax relief, if only as a sort of 'catch-up' or recovery from the creeping erosion of previous tax breaks in recent years. Further, with inflation under control, the likelihood of a modest agreement is heightened.
Pay assessors
The ICTU conference saw little reference to the 'inability to pay' provisions of the current national agreement and the attendant use of Labour Relations Commission pay assessors (IE0312204F). A motion by the Communications Workers Union- embroiled in a pay dispute with state postal company An Post- calling for the removal of the 'inability to pay' option from state-owned companies was ruled out of order. This was because the motion could not apply to Northern Ireland and the conference is concerned with all-Ireland issues. However, it is common knowledge that ICTU, and general secretary David Begg, is pleased with how the pay assessment system in general has operated so far. The current row in An Post presents ICTU with a sticky problem, but the general secretary believes that he cannot challenge the assessors and that the process must take its course. The next stage in that dispute is the Labour Court. However, if the row eventually ends up with a strike ballot, then Mr Begg will be able, though his membership of the National Implementation Body (the informal high-level channel for resolving difficult disputes), to try to channel what is sure to be a very difficult dispute towards some peaceful resolution.
Evolutionary process
In essence, the 2005 conference also demonstrated for observers that the ability of the social partners to corral wayward groups, or manage difficult disputes, is also one of the reasons why social partnership is likely to continue to be the 'only game in town'. The recent period has been witness to the gradual evolution of a more regulated form of pay bargaining and dispute resolution. Arguably, when combined with the plethora of employment rights legislation of the past decade or more, the whole system of industrial relations in Ireland has been transformed (IE0412203F). The industrial relations system is no longer 'voluntarist' (IE0503202F) in the way it once was, while it is not yet a 'legalistic' system along continental European lines - but under social partnership it has added elements that make it something in between, it is argued.
The conference also saw the very public and timely delivery of a major social commitment in the current national agreement - significant movement on an 'affordable housing' initiative. ICTU had placed much of its own political capital and credibility on achieving real movement on this single issue. The Prime Minister lived up to expectations with an initiative that coincided with the ICTU conference.
Mr Begg, while welcoming this development, also used the occasion to speak directly to the Prime Minister in front of delegates, asking him not to look on social spending as a sort of 'add-on' to good economic times. He said that there has to be a 'synergy' between social and economic development, which could turn Ireland from a 'very good country into a great country'. In this regard, ICTU has raised the stakes on what it calls the 'caring' issues, such as childcare and old age provision - as well as pensions. Its sense of timing appears good, as the Fine Gael opposition party recently raised the stakes at a political level on the childcare issue. It is likely to feature in any future national talks and may be a more likely 'winner' than pensions, as the trade unions look to have lost the fight on defined-benefit schemes. Certainly, ICTU will be looking for one major victory that grabs the headlines, as the housing initiative has done in the context of Sustaining Progress.
Recruitment fund
The issue of trade union recognition remains constant for all ICTU unions. While the conference heard acknowledgments that the new representation provisions of the 2001 and 2004 Industrial Relations Acts (IE0409204F) have produced dividends, the demand for a statutory right to recognition is likely to be put on the table again. The unions have yet to adapt to what might - from their perspective - be the surprising success of the new Acts. However, there are concerns that, ultimately, servicing members in this way - at one remove - may place too high a strain on their resources. Put crudely, the unions need their own business model to make the best use of the new law. Recruitment too featured at the conference with incoming president Peter McLoone’s novel suggestion that unions use a portion of their strike funds to fund an ICTU campaign. If that happens, the key issue will be identifying areas where the potential for gains is real, and whether the resources available are sufficient and sustained.
Commentary
There is every likelihood that in 2007, when ICTU convenes at its normal time of early July, that delegates will be piling pressure on the government of the day, which is only par for the course. Mr Ahern may still be Prime Minister but one with less pressure to please all parties, so forecasts of the demise of social partnership could well resurface. Its end has been forecast before but this has not come to pass yet - though it arguably will not last for ever. But for now, there is no reason to assume that this increasingly sophisticated - some would claim 'stage-managed'- process will not produce a new deal at the end of 2005. Most of the building blocks would appear to be in place for such an eventuality. However, there are, not surprisingly, some problems with the process, including a perception among some private sector unions that it disproportionately benefits the public sector unions, especially with a second pay benchmarking exercise commencing - and that the pay of private sector union members is slipping behind public sector pay. In relation to this, there is a perception in some quarters that the social partnership process is largely controlled by a small core elite - it has been called a cosy consensus. Further, it is widely argued that, while social partnership is fairly well embedded at national level, it is yet to percolate down to any great extent at grassroots or workplace level. Despite this, the odds are still weighted in favour of a seventh successive national partnership deal. (Brian Sheehan and Tony Dobbins, Industrial Relations News)