Unions and employers are today set to endorse the new social partnership programme, but it will not have the support of a large section of the community and voluntary sector.
The deal, Sustaining Progress, will be passed by a margin of about 60-40 at a special delegate conference of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions in Dublin.
Union support for the programme was secured yesterday when SIPTU, the State's biggest union, announced that members had balloted in favour of the deal by a surprisingly wide margin of 73-27. SIPTU delegates will cast almost 20 per cent of the votes at today's conference. Support for the deal received a further significant boost when another big union, Amicus, announced a narrow decision in favour.
Large unions to come out against the deal yesterday, however, included MANDATE, the Communications Workers' Union and the Civil and Public Service Union.
In what may be seen as a blow to the credibility of the programme, the Community Platform also announced that it was rejecting the deal. The platform, which represents 26 organisations in the community and voluntary sector, is to launch an equality and anti-poverty campaign in the summer. Spokeswoman Ms Frances Byrne said the needs of people living in poverty and experiencing inequality had been "completely ignored" in the partnership process.
"We are faced with an extremely socially conservative Government, where people are perceived as economic units and nothing more. The time has come for a new space and a new voice for radical social change."
The National Equality and Anti-Poverty Action Movement would be launched in June and would focus on "affecting the outcomes of the National Anti-Poverty Strategy, the Budget, local elections", she said. With farm groups also not yet party to the agreement, the platform's decision means the programme is likely to lack the support of a number of social partners.
Informal contacts between farm groups and the Government are continuing, however, with a view to restarting discussions.
IBEC, the employers' body, will decide its stance today at a meeting of its national council in Dublin. While a large number of members have expressed reservations about the pay terms in the agreement, the council is expected to endorse it as the best deal available at national level. The three-year agreement includes a 7 per cent pay increase to be phased in over 18 months, with negotiations on pay for the remaining period to take place next year.
It also includes a timetable for payment of the benchmarking pay increases, worth an average 8.9 per cent, to public servants, as well as the productivity changes to be conceded in return.
Increased statutory redundancy payments, an affordable housing initiative, improvements in parental leave and maternity rights and a strategy to tackle inflation are also included in the package. On the broader social agenda, 10 "special initiatives" are proposed in areas including the cost of insurance, migration, long-term unemployment, waste management, child poverty and drug abuse.
Community and voluntary groups are divided on the merits of these, with some signing up to the agreement and others rejecting it. The Chambers of Commerce also voted yesterday to ratify the deal at a meeting of its national council.
It said a number of concerns had been expressed, however, about the cost of the public sector pay bill and the "potential crowding out of other areas of public expenditure".
