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Thursday, June 26, 2008

Who is missing from social partnership?

As IBEC and the unions go toe to toe as a prelude to the opening and hard bargaining of the partnership talks, it is interesting to consider who doesn't get to be represented at the partnership talks. You! if you work in the private sector.

For the most part people in the private sector aren't members of unions (for reasons both negative and positive) and people in such positions get absolutely no say at all in this process. This is entirely a discussion by unions on behalf of those working in the public sector, employers - which includes the government - and the social partners and the state about how to manage the money that is generated from the productive endeavour of others and which is collected by means of the taxes they levy on these productive sectors of the economy i.e. those who make things that people buy and small businesses who sell their services locally. Makes you wonder doesn't it? We're baking the pie but the people above are deciding how it is sliced up and how big a slice we get.

5 comments:

Georgie Casey said...

Social partnership needs to be abolished. Hopefully Cowen will have the political courage in these hard times to get rid of it and tell the public sector unions where to go.

dublinstreams said...

maybe the people in the private sector should gather themselves into a group... well that's my idea i don't know what you'd call such a grouping maybe a union

Unknown said...

Well, the problem with the unions was it become more about the direction the union leaders wanted to go in rather than was what was the long term interest of the people working. And since most of the members of the unions at present are public sector workers whose interests do you think would be looked after first?

dublinstreams said...

im not talking about 'the unions' im talking about an association of (private sector) workers,[these are usually called unions]. i didn't say they had to join public sectors unions, they can make their own, make up their own rules, unfortunately not all private sector workers can be in a room to discuss social partnership, so they have think of system to have a few people represent them fairly, use some of the famous private sector innovation and efficiency.
private sectors can't moan about not being in the room, they choose not to be.

Unknown said...

Many people in the private sector are members of associations, or professional organisations as they are often called. The room of social partnership is invitation only, people working on the factory floor in the private sector are not there because they weren't invited.