Head over to our T
Farewell then Social Partnership
Read more about: Democracy, Economy, Oireachtas 
A few quick thoughts on the collapse of the fiscal adjustment talks. We’ll know more in 90 minutes about the government’s next steps.
1. As a result of the breakdown, the government now has to go to the Dail, explain its position, and bring forward actual specific proposals on which the opposition could force a vote, if only for the record. Isn’t that how parliamentary democracy is supposed to work?
2. Economists like to talk about how you can’t pursue 2 objectives with one instrument. The instrument in this case was the social partnership talks. The two objectives were restoring fiscal balance and achieving political cover for the government. One of them had to go. If the government still wants political cover, it could always try talking to the duly elected opposition. See point 1.
3. Given the pace of the economic crisis, a huge amount of time has been wasted. We’ve known the size of the projected cutbacks since early December. But with the bank bailouts, the tactic of negotiation via leaks to the media, and periods of drift, it’s 2 months later and nothing has been done. The last ditch attempt to make tomorrow’s ratings agencies report on Ireland a new deadline had no credibility.
4. Did Waterford Crystal unnerve the union leadership? More militancy in the ranks than they had anticipated? A similar feeling might be working its way through the UK trades unions with the energy sector wildcat strikes. The leaders may think that being too close to government when there is some real pain for workers coming is not a good idea.
Point 4 hits the nail on the head. The trade union Rip Van Winkle is waking up at last. And it is exactly what the country needs now believe it or not. The country badly needs a strong trade union movement to stand up to IBEC and their friends who, having brought the country to its knees, were delighted with yesterdays announcements (and why wouldn’t they when the tax is levied only on those they want to bring down). Otherwise the country will be over-run with a cheap alienated labour force who will have no allegiance to the country or interest in keeping the ecoonomy afloat.
I find it very annoying that IBEC should be talking about “preserving jobs” when those with the where-withal to do so spent the last ten years deliberately destroying any chance the economy had of producing people-oriented and sustainable jobs.
Watching the situation in Ireland from the US, there are some striking parallels in the increased militancy of union workers. A group of workers in Chicago took over a factory in December that tried to close 1) without giving the 60 days notice required by law, and 2) without paying people. It then emerged that the company wasn’t going out of business; it wanted to move to a different state in order to avoid the union, thus following in the footsteps of the meatpacking plants that left Chicago for states with a weaker union presence and large numbers of illegal immigrants that further undercut wages. However, workers in those plants have started to rebel, both against the employers and lazy, corrupt union leaders who were in bed with the employers. How widespread this will become in the next few months is anyone’s guess.