This year has made plain that in the public sector in Ireland, we have entered a radical new phase in industrial relations. Strikes and rallies planned for next Thursday are the clearest possible demonstration of this new reality.
Social partnership: establishment tool to keep wages low
Since 1987, there has been a series of social partnership and/or pay deals, which have largely established the terms of engagement – centrally agreed pay increases, changes to working practices, and industrial peace. In that time, we have seen some very important strikes – in education and health, for example – but nothing broader. That time has also seen an improvement in living standards, but most of that gain was before the 2008 crash. The collapse of the Celtic Tiger saw savage assaults on the public sector – both on pay and on reputation – and we have not seen anything like the same rate of real wage growth since then, lagging far behind the private sector and falling as a share of gross national income. Since 2008, public sector wages have risen by 37%, while inflation has grown by 30.3% – an overall increase, over 18 years, of 6.7%, or less than 0.4% per year. In the same period, private sector wages have grown by over 50%, and the economy has more doubled (in GNI*) or trebled (in GDP) in size.
These deals have been a great success for the government. They have bought ‘industrial peace’, kept wage increases low, and allowed business to massively increase its profits while contributing proportionately less.
Knowing its value, successful governments have consistently sought to maintain the process. Until now.
The most recent public sector pay deal expired, as scheduled, at the end of June 2026. Normally, the period preceding the end of one pay deal sees negotiations between government and unions. This time, no.
Over the course of the last five years, public sector workers have suffered an effective pay cut of 5 to 7%, as inflation far outpaced wage growth. This, at a time when housing costs are painfully high and public services are chronically under-resourced, saw increasing anger and frustration among workers. The union leadership responded by insisting that any new process with the government must begin with discussion of pay. Literally that – no further demands were placed on the government. The government refused to engage even on these simple terms.
Enough is enough: public sector workers vote for action
This summer’s ballots of public sector workers saw remarkable turnouts and overwhelming votes in support of action up to and including strike. This must have come as a shock to the government, who have mistakenly come to see the unions as paper tigers, but they still maintained their position. Their high-handed and arrogant stance was only watered down on the eve of our 24-hour strike on October 14th.
A second strike on October 21st was postponed as negotiations opened. But after two full weeks, we discovered that the government had offered a derisory, insulting, 6.75% over 30 months plus 1% (i.e. half of the previously agreed 2%) local bargaining. This was effectively offering us another pay cut, in return for which we would be required to make even more concessions and accept more ‘reforms’.
The union leadership couldn’t possibly put this to us as a proposal. So here we are, out of our workplaces and on the streets, demanding our living standards are protected.
What is the government playing at?
If this experience should teach us anything, it is that the government is not and has never been our “social partners”. This government has given VAT cuts to the likes of Supermacs, McDonald’s, Burger King, Starbucks; it’s given huge concessions to hauliers and users of heavy vehicles; it’s opened the door for data centres, with all of the implications for creaking electricity and water infrastructure; it’s presided over an ever-worsening housing crisis. But all it sees in store for us is pay cuts.
We have to assume that the government didn’t sleepwalk into this battle. This is more than neglect or apathy. Consider their position, as minders of the capitalist classes interests:
- If we get a decent pay increase, our private sector peers will want the same. Bad for profits.
- We have high persistent inflation. They want workers to pay for it. If we don’t, that’s bad for profits.
- They are getting increasing criticism for their failure to adhere to their budgets. They can deal with this by increasing income (by taxing the rich) or by suppressing wages. You don’t need to be a socialist to know which approach they have chosen.
- They’re insistent on buying more weaponry, armoured vehicles, instruments of war. Unspoken in all of this is that every euro spent on weaponry has to come from somewhere. And they plan to take it from our pockets, our health and education systems.
- They have enjoyed a quiet 40 years in terms of industrial action. And they thought we had forgotten how to fight. We haven’t!
A balance sheet
What can we say about how this conflict has developed?
The ballots were almost unprecedented in their strength. The strike on the 14th was largely solid, with very impressive turnouts on pickets and a militant atmosphere. The will to fight is there. And the organization on the day was excellent.
On the flip side, we can say that communication from leadership to membership during negotiations has not been good, and members have been left relying on the media to get a sense of what is going on. The decision to postpone a one-day strike on the 21st of October was taken centrally and without discussion with members. Another issue is that the unions have consistently refused to put forward clear demands. This being the case, it is not clear to us exactly what it is we’re actually striking in order to achieve. Lessons for the next struggle must be learnt.
What is needed now?
As an immediate starting point, we need a set of clear demands. Militant Left demands:
- Inflation-Plus; wage increases that match inflation and compensate for our lost earnings over the past five years;
- An inflation review clause in any agreement such that a spike in inflation leads to an increase in our pay in order to compensate;
- Protection from privatization and outsourcing of public sector work;
- Protection of the rights of public sector workers to hybrid working conditions;
- An end to precarious and insecure employment in the public sector;
- An end to low pay in the public sector and a living wage at minimum for all.
Going beyond this immediate list of demands, we need to recognize that union capacity has weakened over the decades in many workplaces, with few union meetings, few members attending such meetings, and the relationship of many members to their unions being distant. We need to reactivate the unions – more meetings in workplaces, more meetings across sections, the development of new layers of shop stewards and union activists. We also need to develop coordination of activity across unions where we share a workplace. We’re all in the same struggle here.
Build a fighting left in the trade unions
Furthermore, we need to rebuild the Left in the union movement in the Republic. The example of NIPSA in Northern Ireland (where Militant Left plays an active role in the broad left), and in unions across Britain (where our sister parties, the Socialist Party of England & Wales and Socialist Party Scotland are very active) provide evidence of how important this can be in advancing conditions of workers.
Going further, we need to reach into the private sector and work to build the movement there. Private sector workplaces are largely unorganized and a strong union movement across the economy is good for all workers.
We need to fight the current battle skilfully, with a sober appraisal of our strength, the strength of the other side, and a clear sense of what we intend to gain. We need to recognize that other fights are coming – this is always the case – and strengthen ourselves for these. We need to strengthen in depth within the public sector and in breadth across the entire economy.
And we need to always recognize that any victory we gain can be temporary and will be taken back unless we can defend it – or unless we remove the capitalist system completely and replace it with a socialist system which values human living standards more than it does obscene personal wealth.