Siptu conference: The State's biggest union is set to delay a decision on whether to remain in social partnership as a result of the Irish Ferries controversy.
Siptu's executive council decided yesterday to withdraw a motion it had tabled for the union's biennial conference mandating it to enter talks on a successor to Sustaining Progress. The conference opened yesterday in Cork and the motion was to have been debated tomorrow.
Instead, the executive is to table a more hardline, emergency motion which would mandate the union to enter talks only if the Government provided guarantees on the maintenance of employment standards.
Irish Ferries is seeking to lay off hundreds of Irish-based seafaring staff and replace them with cheaper labour from eastern Europe. It agreed this week to enter new talks with Siptu, but remains committed to its controversial plan.
Siptu's move yesterday was seen as an attempt to exert pressure on the Government to take tangible steps to prevent what the union has termed a "race to the bottom" in employment standards.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has said on a number of occasions that he does not wish to see a race to the bottom develop. However, in a hard-hitting opening address to the conference, Siptu president Jack O'Connor said the "key question" was whether the Government was prepared to act on Mr Ahern's sentiments.
"Right now, I cannot assure you with any degree of confidence that talks on a new national agreement can result in tangible measures to prevent displacement, curb exploitation or protect employment standards," he told delegates.
There was no point in unions remaining in the partnership process if they could not prevent workers covered by employment agreements from being replaced by "vulnerable people on inferior terms", he said.
Mr O'Connor said there was a certain logic in the view that if unions could not prevent displacement of jobs within the partnership process, they were unlikely to succeed outside it. "But a line has to be drawn somewhere. And we have made it very clear that we will not acquiesce with a race to the bottom in employment standards, whatever the consequences."
He said he wanted to "salute the courage" of Siptu's members at Irish Ferries, who "despite enormous pressure" were "fighting in a dignified way" to retain their jobs. "I want to assure them that we will continue to support them in every possible way.
"Indeed, scandalous and all as the treatment meted out to them has been, when you think about the way the company intends to treat the vulnerable people they intend to replace them with, that is even more scandalous still."
Irish Ferries has defended its decision to offer its 543 seafaring staff the option of voluntary redundancy or continued employment on reduced pay and inferior conditions. The company says the move is necessary to ensure it remains competitive.
Mr O'Connor told delegates their decision on whether to enter partnership talks would have "enormous implications" for Siptu's 220,000 members and workers in general.
"Important though it is, it is not the most important business we have before us this week. Ultimately 'social partnership', as it is called, is only a strategy; it was never an end in itself. One way or the other we must carry on with our work."
A decision by Siptu not to support talks on a new agreement would almost certainly mean the end of the social partnership process that has been in place since 1987. Unions will vote jointly on whether to enter talks at a special delegate conference of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions.
Without Siptu's support, a motion to take part in new talks would most likely fail. The Siptu conference is being attended by 460 delegates and more than 100 observers and guests. It continues until Friday.
