Electricians are being asked to concede to a form of cynical opportunism, writes VINCENT BROWNE.
NAOMI KLEIN, the Canadian critic of corporate globalisation, is the author of The Shock Doctrine, the Rise of Disaster Capitalism. The theme of the book was how capitalism used traumatic events to copper-fasten corporate interests. It may be happening here right now and the electricians' dispute seems like an instance of that shock doctrine (pun intended).
The issues at the heart of the strike is the refusal of the electrical contractors (the employers) to pay an agreed pay increase for work that was done from May 1st, 2007, to April 30th, 2008. During this time there was no crisis in the building industry.
The contractors were paid for work completed during that time and they owed it to their electrical employees, on the basis of an agreement which provided for pay increase in arrears.
In other words, the contractors pocketed the pay increase due to the electricians and now want to use the prevailing crisis and the accompanying public alarm as a cover to avoid paying the electricians their due.
This seems even more likely in the case of major tenders such as the Lansdowne Road stadium and the second terminal at Dublin airport. The duplicity of the contractors and their cheerleaders in the construction industry is astonishing. It is as though they had failed to pay VAT and then claimed inability to pay money that never was theirs in the first place.
The procedure for the determination of electricians’ pay relates their pay to wage increases in other areas, albeit with that 12-month delay. So if there are wage decreases elsewhere, electricians’ pay will follow suit.
If the electricians are forced to concede to this cynical opportunism on the part of the contractors and the construction industry generally, beware: the shock doctrine has been unleashed.
The shock doctrine may be on the way anyway via An Bord Snip Nua and the Commission on Taxation.
The reports of both of these bodies will be treated as an “objective” evaluation of what needs to be done and form the basis of policy to be supported by all of the major parties.
Neither of the reports could possibly be “objective” for the people preparing them are almost all of a mindset that accepts the present social order is fine; across-the-board taxes or expenditure cuts are reasonable, with everyone sharing the pain. Most of them probably believe that anything approaching equality is a drift towards communism.
An Bord Snip Nua, alias the Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure Programmes, is chaired by the UCD economist Colm McCarthy, who worked for decades with the economic consultancy firm DKM, partly owned by the stockbroking firm Davy’s. Stockbroking firms, typically, do not regard equality as high on their agenda.
Colm McCarthy is accompanied by Donal McNally, second secretary general at the Department of Finance, an institution also not noted, so far, for a robust commitment to equality. These two are advised by a further group, who include a former governor of the Central Bank, the head of a financial corporation, a former partner at PriceWaterhouseCoopers and a business consultant. Somebody probably thinks this is a body representative of society generally.
The Commission on Taxation is chaired by a former chairman of the Revenue Commissioners, which might be okay. There is the chief executive of Concern, an environmentalist and a trade unionist. But the other 11 are of the “orthodox” mindset: a few economists, a tax solicitor, a few chartered accountants, a fellow from KBC Asset Management, a few from financial outfits, a director of the big employers’ body Ibec, a representative from the Irish Banking Federation, another from the Irish Taxation Institute and a guy from Dublin Transportation Office
Is it remotely likely this lot will see the tax system as the mechanism for wealth and income redistribution?
We can expect, reliably, that the boyos on An Bord Snip Nua and on the Commission on Taxation will deliver their versions of the shock doctrine, which will then be parcelled in the now familiar verbiage of “everyone taking the pain” and “protecting the vulnerable” in the form of the December budget.
A cut in social welfare, notably in the dole (to remove the disincentive to work, you understand); cuts in health and education, which will further impact on the vulnerable they pretend they want to protect; and a go at public service pay.
Public service pay does indeed invite an attack, for pay in the higher echelons is exorbitant – an easy remedy would be to reduce all pay above €100,000 to €100,000 and remove all pay from Ministers and Ministers of State – why should full-time TDs be paid extra for doing related work?
But none of that.
Instead, prepare for some shock, unless the electricians deliver a shock to mindsets in the meantime.
And another thing. The reports will be kept secret until after the Lisbon Treaty. It’s a bad idea to feed the populace too much information. They might abuse it.