[Article] (Employers and) Unions accept pay deal despite protests

Victor

Unions accept pay deal despite protests
From:The Irish Independent
Thursday, 27th March, 2003
Gerald Flynn Industrial Correspondent

http://home.eircom.net/content/unison/national/427112?view=Eircomnet

TRADE unions yesterday voted to accept the new 'Sustaining Progress' pay terms by a 57pc majority although there appeared to be deep divisions.

The employers' body, IBEC also accepted the successor to the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness (PPF), emphasising that the unions are now locked into special 'no strikes' compliance terms.

Their 140-member General Council voted overwhelmingly in favour with just one chairman, representing printing firms, voting against the terms.

Union chiefs were split on their view of the pay and compliance terms which were accepted by 195 to 147 votes after about 30 delegates - confident of the outcome - had left the Liberty Hall conference centre before the card vote was taken.

SIPTU president Des Geraghty challenged those unions opposing the agreement and their eagerness to return to free collective bargaining.

He said that it was an interim pay agreement and unions had one year in which to consider seeking flat-rate pay rises although he suspected that those calling for it now would be demanding relative percentage increases for their members next year.

Mr Geraghty told the conference that the partnership agreements were part of "a constant struggle for improvements in people's social and working conditions".

"If you're going for a free-for-all, do it when the employers are making a lot of money and not when they are losing money", he advised the more militant delegations.

TEEU leader Owen Wills was among the strongest critics of the agreement describing it as "another terrible mistake which is both anti-union and anti-worker".

He said that the focus is on control and further emasculation of free trade unions, with the imposition of binding decisions by the Labour Court.

Mr Wills warned that these compliance restrictions are "not just a temporary little arrangement" and they would not easily be reversed.

Frank Gallagher of the GPMU print union appeared somewhat perplexed that his members had voted in favour of the agreement.

PSEU chief Dan Murphy noted that partnership negotiations are the only available means of securing improvements for union members which work.

Following its council meeting, IBEC director general Turlough O'Sullivan said that his members had become very disillusioned with the PPF. He welcomed the stronger compliance terms of the new deal, including binding arbitration.

Farmers are continuing to hold negotiations with government with a view to joining the partnership deal.

However, the issue of increased disease levies which farmers wanted reversed has still not been resolved, and it is likely to be the week after next before a deal can be hammered out.

Victor

Number of days lost to strikes falls in 2002
From:ireland.com
Thursday, 27th March, 2003

http://home.eircom.net/content/irelandcom/breaking/429699?view=Eircomnet

Last year was a relatively peaceful one on the industrial relations front, despite a number of high profile disputes, according to figures released today.

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) figures show there were 21,257 days lost to industrial disputes in 2002, the lowest annual total going back as far as 1970.

The 2002 total represents a sharp fall from the 114,613 days lost in 2001. The total days lost in 2002 remains significantly less than the total days lost in 2001 even allowing for the impact the teachers' dispute had on the 2001 figures.

There were 27 industrial disputes in 2002, all of which began in the year. The 27 disputes in progress in 2002 affected 3,553 workers and 43 firms.

The manufacturing industry accounted for 8,989 (42.3 per cent) of the total days lost, with the health and social work area accounting for another 5,465 (25.7 per cent).

The statistics are based on details supplied by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and on information collected directly by the CSO.

Disputes are included in the figures if they involve a stoppage of work lasting for at least one day and the total time lost is 10 or more person-days.

The number of days lost is calculated by multiplying the number of persons involved in industrial disputes by the number of normal working days during which they were involved in the dispute.

Persons working for about 40 hours per week are assumed to be working the equivalent of a five-day week even if the work is spread over more than five days.