SIPTU Biennial Delegate Conference 2022
Speech by ICTU President Kevin Callinan
You are gathering here in Sligo at a time of great international upheaval and uncertainty.
It’s more than a month since Russian forces rolled into Ukraine, kicking off an unjustified invasion and a horrific war that has united the people of Ukraine, the people of Ireland, and all the peoples of Europe. It has united us in a determination to say ‘no’ to aggression, and to resist attacks on our concepts of democracy, self-determination, and sovereignty. The global response has been heartening, despite the horrors of the conflict and its impact on workers, their families, and their communities. And this after a period when autocrats seemed to be getting the upper hand – not just in Russia, but in China, India, parts of the Americas, South-East Asia, and elsewhere.
Last Thursday, your general secretary Joe Cunningham and I both attended ICTU’s solidarity protest outside the Russian embassy in Dublin. We were joined by scores of trade unionists from Siptu and Fórsa, and from across the labour movement. We were able to reach out, and show solidarity, with the Ukrainian community in Ireland – including many young workers who probably knew little or nothing about the trade union movement here.
Some of them may have wondered why unions were getting involved in their struggle at all. But when I told them that, as trade unionists, we believe that an injury to one is always an injury to all, they understood why we were there.
And our solidarity is also practical in nature. Congress recently launched an initiative to encourage workers to donate one hour’s worth of their pay to humanitarian support for Ukraine. And Ibec has agreed to encourage its members to match this. I’m confident that this initiative will meet with the same tremendous generosity that has been reflected in the public’s response to humanitarian appeals from the Irish Red Cross and other agencies, and in the huge number of people expressing their willingness to provide accommodation to refugees.
We also see it in the determination of public servants, airport workers, port staff and others – many of them members of our two unions – who are pulling out the stops to help and welcome refugees on their arrival at our shores. This is who we are. And this is what we are.
Credit where credit is due, the official response has also been laudable, not least the waiving of visa restrictions and the decision to allow Ukrainians to work or claim benefits from the day they set foot in Ireland. This has inevitably drawn comparisons with a grudging and ungenerous attitude to refugees from other nations – Syria, Sudan, Afghanistan, Palestine and elsewhere. And it has shone a light on our awful, antiquated asylum regime, typified by the discredited and disgraceful system of direct provision. That approach is now way past it’s sell by date, and the Ukrainian response must now be the model for Ireland’s future treatment of refugees and asylum-seekers, regardless of what country or continent they set out from before they reach our shores.
This is not the first occasion in recent times when we have argued that the lessons learned in crisis should be applied to public policy in good times as well as bad. It’s almost two years since Joe Cunningham and I penned an op-ed for the Irish Times. We argued that, in the wake of the Covid crisis, Ireland experienced a ‘1945 moment,’ where the enormity of loss and sacrifice, the scale of economic devastation, and austerity fatigue had created the conditions for a radical shift in public policy.
Since then, my union has commissioned work from the progressive think-tank TASC, to dig deeper into how we should – and how we can – achieve an expanded state, with a best-of-class social wage, supported by a competitive environmentally-robust economy founded on secure and well-paid work. Right now, Ireland spends far less on public services and infrastructure than similar European countries. That’s why we lack the ‘social wage’ enjoyed by workers and communities in comparable European countries:
- Access to free health care at the point of delivery
- Access to free or affordable childcare and early years’ education
- Social housing worthy of the name
- High-quality and environmentally responsive public transport
- The opportunity for our children – and our economy – to benefit and grow through accessible high-quality third level education
- And so much more.
Ireland’s lack of this social wage is felt most keenly when prices are on the rise. The trade union movement has been quick to respond to the soaring cost of living and its impact on our families’ living standards. In the face of high and persistent inflation, ICTU’s Private Sector Committee has twice outlined its advice on private sector pay aspirations since the end of 2021. And I think that they will have to do so again. And, earlier this month, the Congress Public Services Committee invoked the review clause of the Building Momentum agreement in response to the cost-of-living crisis.
We are operating in a fast-changing situation in this regard. None of us can predict the global economic reverberations of the war in Ukraine with certainty. What IS certain is that we will all feel the impact – definitely in terms of further increases in the cost of essentials like food and fuel, and possibly in the form of a new and potentially deep recession.
We cannot ignore the impact of inflation on living standards. It hits the poorest first and hardest. And we must utterly reject the narrative developing in some quarters that compensatory pay increases will fuel inflation. Let’s be clear: workers are not the cause of inflation, they are its victims. But we also know that, against today’s uncertain background, the protection of employment must remain as big a priority for our movement as confronting the cost of living.
Over the last two years, we’ve proved beyond doubt our collective ability to meet challenges of this scale and seriousness. During the Covid crisis – and particularly in the early months of the pandemic – this was delivered through a more robust commitment to social dialogue than we’ve seen for years.
Using the LEEF (Labour-Employer Economic Forum) as the main vehicle, unions, employers and Government quickly and effectively tackled huge issues like maintaining incomes and employment through State supports, and collectively agreeing an effective approach to workplace health and safety during a pandemic.
I have consistently argued that we should deploy the same approach to big-ticket issues like climate change and the just transition, expanding the role of the State, dealing with structural economic shifts like automation and changing patterns of working time and work organisation, and creating world-class public services in the post-pandemic era.
Clearly, the economic and geopolitical impact of the war in Ukraine needs to be added to that list.
Just to be clear, I am not arguing for a return to social partnership agreements of the kind we knew before the banking and fiscal crisis. Neither do I see social dialogue as an alternative to effective collective bargaining and strong union and workers’ rights. With colleagues from across Europe, the ICTU officers have been working to secure the EU Directive on Adequate Minimum Wages in a form that would strengthen collective bargaining rights here in Ireland and, where it’s needed, across the continent.
Developing a political strategy to strengthen collective bargaining rights, including the potential for constitutional change, was also strong pillar of my Presidential platform, and I am determined to see that through. That strategy needs to include a public awareness campaign aimed at explaining what collective bargaining means in simple terms and how it has an important role in the achievement of greater equality and in securing democracy – not just in the workplace but in broader society too.
As the pandemic experience clearly demonstrated, we need to strengthen social dialogue simultaneously and radically in Ireland – bringing it in line with the approach of other relatively rich European countries – to deal with the big issues effectively, and in ways that mean workers and communities are never forgotten or left behind.
Colleagues, I want to conclude by thanking you again for the opportunity to address your conference. In my capacity as President of ICTU, I want to thank Siptu – and its leadership at every level – for the crucial role you play in Congress from the national level to the Local Trades Councils and to the emerging Local Trade Union Centres, which both our unions are committed to strengthening and developing into ‘shop fronts’ for trade unionism all across this island. I wish you luck with the rest of your conference. And I look forward to working with you in solidarity into the future.
