There are growing indications that layers of workers are beginning break with the ethos of 'social partnership'. Social partnership is the latest version of the type of class collaboration preferred by the leadership of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions whereby they 'strive to move away from adversarial industrial relations in order to build a new system based on mutual respect and partnership'.
So far this month we have witnessed two different worker verss employers disputes spontaneously erupt into open class confrontation.
Building workers in Dublin have just won a significant victory over their employer Cramptions. The company has been forced to reinstate all 16 sacked workers and agreed to eliminate the hated system of subcontracting (a practice which forces buildworkers to work as self employed thus eliminating things like holiday pay and pension rights and often pushing workers into a black economy).
The dispute began when workers at the Smurfit Business Park site in Clonskeagh asked to be employed directly by the company. They presented their P45s but were told by a company subbie to remain on the dole. They refused and were then sacked. The bricklayers then proceeded to mount a picket to demand the right to work directly, but Cramptions responded by getting a High Court injunction against the workers.
In the recent past these high court injunctions have delivered a deadening blow to workers in dispute. The 1990 Industrial Relations Act, tacitly agreed to by the ICTU, outlawed all secondary picketing or solidarity action. However this time the building workers ignored the Court injunction and organised a hundred pickets around the site and at a number of other Cramptions sites across Dublin. At a well attended public meeting a 'BuildWorkers against the Black Economy' group was set up to publicly expose the exploitative and often criminal ways of Dublin's building contractors; at least workers have died as a result of accidents on building sites within the past three years. Cramptions took fright and capitulated to the workers demands. The success is already having a positive knock-on effect across the building séctor - another builder Rohcon has already been forced to submit to identical demands.
A more significant instance of workers breaking from the ethos of social partnership began with a dispute at Ryanair, one of the most trumpeted superstar companies of Irish capitalism. The actboss of Ryanair, Michael O'Leary, is very much the golden boy of The 37year-old chief executive has just made it into the top twenty of millionaires. He recently pocketed some £17 million in share bonuses, holds a 14 per cent share in Ryanair valued at £122 million and enjoys an annual salary of £200,000. The dispute started out over wages and conditions and was confined to 37 baggage handlers. But it quickly became one about union recognition, with the company refusing to allow SIPTU, Ireland's biggest. Trade Union, the right to represent the baggage handlers at negotiations. Many of the more traditional Irish-owned companies are looking to imitate the large influx of newer, foreignowned firms operating in Ireland, which refuse The recognition of any economy is kind. The latest booming but figures show that less than 30 perworkers' wages cent of the are pegged to multinationals rises of just have any 2% representation. After nine weeks of argument Ryanair attempted to finally kill-off the demand of the baggage handlers for union recognition by suddenly withdrawing the airport security passes of the workers. This amounted to an old fashioned capitalist lockout. The action of Ryanair was supported by IBEC, the employers tederation and the supposed social partners of Congress. The big surprise came when hundreds of other airport workers unconnected with the dispute walked out in solidarity with the locked out workers and closed down the entire airport. The fire fighters walked out, as caterers, cargo handlers, Team Air Lingus Workers. Taxi drivers and bus drivers refused to drive passengers the picket lines All this solidarity action was completely illegal but the employers could do little to prevent it happening, The workers' display of social solidarity shocked and dismayed the employers and the political and trade union establishment. The government quickly announced an inquiry to be conducted jointly by Dan Maculey, a former chairman of the employers federation, and well known Sinn Feiner Phil Flynn, an exunion leader turned banker.
The day after the announcement of the inquiry O'Leary told the news media that there was question of his company agreeing to any Union recognition even if the inquiry makes such a recommendation. On the other hand Des Geraghty the acting head of SIPTU promised to be 'flexible' about a possible solution.
What is emerging is that more and more workers are coming to the conclusion that the partnership 2000 deal negotiated on behalf of workers by the ICTU is delivering massive benefits to the employers but next to nothing to the majority of workers. The Irish capitalists have never had it so good, they constantly boast about the economic success story that is the Celtic Tiger. A column from