THE EXECUTIVE council of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions is expected to decide tomorrow on efforts to restart social partnership talks in advance of a planned wave of strikes scheduled to take place next Monday.
In the meantime, trade unions are continuing preparations for the nationwide strikes, called by Ictu in protest at the Government’s handling of the economic crisis.
The Ictu campaign was dealt a significant blow yesterday, however, when members of the country’s largest public sector union, Impact, narrowly failed to approve participation in the protests by the margin required under its rules.
Last night the trade union Unite released an expanded list of companies and organisations on which it intends to place pickets on Monday. These include New Ireland Assurance, Enterprise Ireland, Glaxo Smithkline Beecham, the Health Service Executive, the National Standards Authority of Ireland and Aer Lingus.
On Sunday the employers’ group Ibec offered to enter into direct talks with trade unions on a new economic recovery programme.
It said that any new deal would have to involve a pay pause of a significant duration but, significantly, it appeared to soften its position that wage increases agreed in partnership talks last autumn should be deferred indefinitely.
Ibec signalled it would not stand in the way of any employer that was in a position to pay the increases under the deal on a voluntary basis. It also called on Ictu to call off the planned strikes.
On Sunday Siptu president Jack O’Connor described the Ibec initiative as “a positive development”.
However, at a meeting yesterday, the private-sector committee of Ictu appeared to take a harder stance. Its chairman, Jerry Shanahan of Unite, said the Ibec invitation to unions had carried preconditions such as the lengthy pay freeze.
The committee, which comprises senior representatives of private-sector unions, said the industrial action on Monday was part of a campaign targeting “rogue employers” who refused to either pay the terms of the national agreement or to engage with unions.
Thousands of schools are set to close as part of the planned action, while the three State airports at Dublin, Cork and Shannon are expected to be shut while staff engage in an eight-hour stoppage on Monday morning.
The central executive council of Impact is to meet today to decide its position on next Monday’s strikes following the result of its ballot yesterday. A total of 65 per cent of members who voted were in favour of taking part, but under the union’s rules a two-thirds majority is needed.
The union is expected to examine its rulebook today to see if it has any discretion in relation to the decision on the strike action.
At its meeting tomorrow the Ictu executive council is also likely to consider progress on informal contacts which have been under way with Government representatives on a resumption of talks on an agreed recovery programme.
