“Partnership” and the Corruption of the Irish Trade Unions

national | worker & community struggles and protests | opinion/analysis

Saturday October 23, 2010 23:10

by Kerry Worker - Kerry Public Service Workers' Alliance

Notably absent from the media analysis of the recent SIPTU scandal has been the conclusion that Irish trade unions were corrupted by government hand-outs under the guise of “partnership”. That during the “Celtic tiger years” Irish trade union leaders’ interests diverged strongly from that of the ordinary membership. That “partnership” and “benchmarking” significantly advanced the interests of the managerial class within the trade unions, while yielding miniscule cost-of-living pay increases for ordinary members in a time of rapid inflation. That these same union bosses need removal every bit as urgently as do the current crop of Irish political and financial leaders.

The lurid details of the SIPTU National Health and Local Authority Levy Fund scandal have been popping up in bits and pieces in the papers recently. The angle being taken in the media is one simply of more government waste, tax-payers money being flitted away by the public services, trade union fat-cats living it up with high-flying trips abroad etc etc.

Notably absent has been the most glaringly obvious aspect of the scandal: that Irish trade unions have been completely corrupted by government hand-outs under the guise of “partnership”. That during the “Celtic tiger years” Irish trade union leaders’ interests diverged strongly from that of the ordinary membership. That “partnership” and “benchmarking” significantly advanced the interests of the managerial class within the trade unions, while yielding miniscule cost-of-living pay increases for ordinary members in a time of rapid inflation. That these same union bosses need removal every bit as urgently as do the current crop of Irish political and financial leaders.

Of course, such a reading of the affair does not fit well with the ideology gripping the Irish media: that trade unions represent the interests of their lazy, cosseted members too well. The details of the SIPTU scandal have been coming out in dribs and drabs for a while and have been hard to fully appreciate. As a service to the trade union movement the Kerry Public Service Workers’ Alliance has put together the salient points of the scandal and what it says about the Irish union-government nexus and “social partnership”. The full story can be accessed at the link below.

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Comments (2 of 2)

Everybody forms their own opinions

by John Doe - Under the Jackboot of Corruption

Tue Oct 26, 2010 21:56

The average citizen has the moral obligation not to trust politicians, this everyone over 6 years of age should know already, but more so, and given that knowledge, they should be much more wary of the unions, who are far worse. "I am your friend. I will protect you. I have your best interest at heart. I understand your. Trust me. Support me..." Does this sound familiar? Hello?

notably absent...

by opus diablos - the regressive hypocrite party

Sun Oct 24, 2010 15:58

could that absence of reference to the corrupting of the unions be due to the long embedded corruption of what likes to polish its credentials as the fourth estate, watchdog for the public on the preservation of our democratic rights?
When the watchdog belongs to the burglar, or can be decoyed with the sweeties of advertising revenue, or has its newsgathering brief replaced with the pulp production of cyclotronic spin tanks, then the media no longer mediate, they have defected to the dictatorship of Wall Street.
In fact they are busy covering the speculator/burglar's back as he absconds with our, and our kids' futures.Musta been a juicy bone.

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“Partnership” and the Corruption of the Irish Trade Unions

Comments (2 of 2)