A threatened nationwide strike by health board and local authority craftworkers, set for 22 June 1998, was averted when nine trade unions - representing the 4,500 workers - recommended that their members accept an IEP 26.06 a week pay "relativity" increase.
May-June 1998 saw unofficial "wildcat" industrial action by health board and local authority craftworkers in Ireland, over pay relativity with their private sector counterparts. However, a nationwide strike was averted when trade unions recommended a settlement.
A threatened nationwide strike by health board and local authority craftworkers, set for 22 June 1998, was averted when nine trade unions - representing the 4,500 workers - recommended that their members accept an IEP 26.06 a week pay "relativity" increase.
The workers concerned are covered by what is known as a "craft analogue agreement", which measures the pay of public sector craftworkers in relation to their equivalents in the private sector. If the strike had gone ahead, the craftworkers would have been supported by almost 30,000 general workers who, in turn, have a pay relationship with them.
The dispute was marked by a series of "wildcat" one-day stoppages by a significant minority of the craftworkers during the last week of May 1998. These unofficial protests occurred prior to a nationwide ballot of craftworkers on Labour Court proposals. Led by a group of craft union officials and employees, the dissidents - as they were referred to - refused to back the Labour Court proposals, formally backed by the craft group of unions. The dissidents wanted the recommended increase of IEP 25.06 paid in one stage only and without the concession of productivity. The Labour Court had proposed that the payment should come in two phases and include work practice flexibilities, which already operate in the private sector.
The wildcat actions, partially blamed on internal divisions within the craft group of unions and a lack of communications with members "on the ground", resulted in serious disruption in some hospitals and caused concern within the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU), which criticised the protesters for not adhering to agreed disputes procedures.
After the dissidents agreed to end their protest actions, the Labour Court's proposals were narrowly defeated in the ballot. The two sides then engaged in direct talks and agreed that the IEP 26.06 payment will apply in one phase only, retrospectively to 1 July 1997. It was also agreed that the mechanism for establishing relativity will be re-examined and that the next formal analogue review with private sector craftworkers will take place in October 2000.
The dispute raised concerns that employees generally are growing impatient with the pay restrictions which apply under Ireland's current three-year national agreement_Partnership 2000_ (IE9702103F). Ironically, however, the pay analogue on which the pay relationship between the public sector and private sector workers is based, predates the current period of centralised pay bargaining and was largely unaffected by it. The increases, therefore, are in excess of the annual pay increases which apply under Partnership 2000.
Il-Eurofound jirrakkomanda li din il-pubblikazzjoni tiġi kkwotata kif ġej.
Eurofound (1998), Wildcat action by craftworkers ends, article.
