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12 November 2016

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Lansdowne Road Agreement ‘has run out of road’, Mary Lou McDonald tells major trade union conference


THE Lansdowne Road Agreement “has run out of road” – it’s time to begin the process of reaching a new agreement, Sinn Féin deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald TD told a major trade union conference on Saturday.

The Technical Engineering & Electrical Union conference in Portlaoise, ‘Constructing the Recovery’, included what the TEEU said was “a series of workshops on pensions, precarious employment, future skill needs and how best to share the benefits of the recovery after ten years of austerity”.

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The two-day event was also addressed by trade union leaders Patricia King (General Secretary, Irish Congress of Trade Unions), Paddy Kavanagh (General Secretary, TEEU), and Jack O’Connor (General President, SIPTU).

Other speakers included David Begg (Chair of the Pensions Authority), Maeve McElwee (IBEC Director of Industrial Relations), and Tom Healy (Director of the Nevin Economic Research Institute).

Mary Lou McDonald told the biennial conference that the issue of equal pay for equal work is a fundamental one facing the public sector. It has led to industrial action on the part of teachers and gardaí “with nurses and health workers being balloted as we speak”, she said.

“The Government has no plan to address this issue outside of divisive sectoral agreements with certain unions already within the Lansdowne Road Agreement,” the Dublin deputy declared.

“Alarmingly, there is no commitment from the Government to allow for equal pay for equal work across the public sector.

“Separate to this is the issue of pay restoration. Currently there is no roadmap in place for fair and timely restoration. This needs to be in place before Budget 2018 is announced in October 2017.

“It is now clear beyond doubt that the Lansdowne Road Agreement has run out of road.

“It is now clear that the process of reaching a new agreement must commence.”

And she emphasised:

“It is essential that there is no delay. Time is of the essence.”

The Sinn Féin TD and member of the Public Accounts Committee described the response of the Fine Gael/Independent Government to pay, jobs and workers’ rights as “flat-footed and out of touch with reality”.

She said that Enda Kenny’s Government must understand that “endless repetition of the Lansdowne Road mantra achieves nothing”.

Any new pay agreement, Mary Lou said, must set out a road map for the unwinding of the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (FEMPI) legislation that allowed for public service pay and pension cuts in the wake of the economic crash.

“The Government must tackle in a cogent and coherent way the inequality created by FEMPI,” said.

“The public sector needs to return to a single-tier pay system and a new agreement should achieve equal pay for equal work.”

Sinn Féin deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald is the first TD to sign the Workers’ Rights Charter at TEEU conference ‘Constructing the Recovery’

Sinn Féin deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald – pictured with Brian Nolan (Regional Secretary, TEEU Construction) – is the first TD to sign the Workers’ Rights Charter at TEEU conference ‘Constructing the Recovery’

Mary Lou also said:

“Competitiveness is the word, the concept, the get-out clause argued by Government to excuse the state from doing what it should do – ensuring proper treatment for workers.

“The most competitive countries in Europe are ones in which there is decent work and pay and that have robust industrial relations laws and proper protections for workers.

“They do not build their economies on indecent work or low pay.

“They build them on strong wages, not poverty wages; and on workers’ rights, not a denial of workers’ rights.

“That is what Sinn Féin wants to see happen.”

Mary Lou said the real face of the much-vaunted “new politics” is Fianna Fail propping up a right-wing government and blocking workers’ rights to keep Enda Kenny happy.

Sinn Féin has brought forward legislation in a number of Bills in the Dáil to end exploitation of low-hour contracts, stop tactical insolvencies, and provide for collective bargaining and trade union right to access but these have been voted against and resisted by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, she said.

“Having failed to act themselves, the Government and its allies in Fianna Fáil have faced down every attempt that we in opposition have made to secure workers’ rights.”

The Sinn Féin deputy leader ended:

“It is cynical and wrong to suggest – as Government has done – that the choice is between restoring decent public service pay or investment in public service provision.

“That is not true.

“The choice is in reality one between investing in public servants and services or not.

“It is a choice between fair taxation or sweetheart deals for sectoral interests.

“It is a choice between acting in solidarity, defending the common good or pandering to the interests of the few.

“Politics is about choices.”

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