THE Government has agreed to move quickly on implementing some non pay elements of Partnership 2000 after a trade union warning that the deal might otherwise be destabilised.
Following a meeting with the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and the employers organisation IBEC yesterday, agreement was announced on the early establishment of a national centre for partnership, bringing into operation the review mechanisms set out in the deal, and on proceeding with publication of a national anti poverty strategy.
The Government also said it shared the concerns expressed by IBEC over public service pay claims. "Some recent developments in the areas of pay and industrial relations run counter to the spirit of social partnership, it said. "The Government expressed its concern that industrial action was being proposed in ways which appeared to be in breach of pay agreement commitments which preclude strikes or other forms of industrial action.
Earlier the ICTU general secretary, Mr Peter Cassells, warned that "Government and employers would be making a grave mistake if they take for granted the good industrial relations climate". An ICTU spokesman said there were many other non pay elements in the deal, and just nine of the 80 pages in the agreement were devoted to pay.
IBEC, however, focused on pay in its contribution to the meeting, calling on the Government to "draw a line in the sand" and refuse to concede any of the special pay claims being, made by pubic servants in the wake of the nurses dispute.
Mr Cassells said: "Failure to implement the non pay elements of Partnership 2000 or to honour the spirit of partnership which underpins the agreement, would threaten the future of partnership and the stability of the current agreement."