Perhaps 'death' is a bit melodramatic. Terminal decline might be a more suitable description. Two columnists in the Sunday papers refer to last Thursday's trade union organised demo in Molesworth Street, just opposite the front gates of Leinster House. Alan Ruddock in the Sunday Times is deeply unsympathetic and talks a great deal of hyperbolic nonsense:
Blustering and posturing are to be expected ahead of any round of negotiations, but this time the issues are far more serious than just rates of pay or the extent of any tax cut. Begg and the unions are trying to dictate the future direction of this country and are hoping to browbeat a weak government into submission. Begg does not believe that the current levels of economic growth are sustainable, because he does not believe that Ireland can cope with the immigration that will be required to sustain it. From what I can work out, he thinks it should be possible to reach a point where the Irish economy grows at a slower pace, maintains high levels of employment and pays high wages to secure, presumably Irish, workers.
Ruddock's over-emphasis of trade union influence is ridiculous. It is just the opposite. Trade Union leaders are quite aware of the growing irrelevance of trade unions as far as the more dynamic sectors of the economy are concerned - high tech multinationals and the indigenous services sector. This is why despite all the public hesitation, most union leaders will ultimately back a return to partnership and be damn glad of a seat at the top table.
In the Sunday Tribune Michael Clifford makes the point that only one in four low-skilled workers is a member of a trade union and "an uphill battle awaits those who are interested in maintaining decent standards of living among private-sector employees in low-skilled jobs". Clifford turns his attention to the public sector unions that were out in force on Thursday: "the partnership process has served them well; it is in their interests that it continues".
The usual points are made about the privileges of the public sector workers and there's no doubt that they (I should say we, as I am among their ranks) are insulated from the chronic insecurity that exists in much of the workplace. With a postal strike about to get under way, the threatened action of the Communication Workers Union will be seen as an abuse of power. You cannot say that postal workers are "exploited" in the way that many workers clearly are in the private sector.
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