Madam, - In his scholarly article entitled "Economic battle lines need to be redrawn" (Opinion & Analyis, January 4th), Kieran Allen hits the nail right on the head regarding the increasing dilution of union clout in the country.
It can be no coincidence that this watering down of the trade union movement's influence occurred alongside the social partnership of the past two decades.
While, as Allen points out, this has certainly helped create a fruitful economic climate, with all the accompanying drawbacks and inequalities we have witnessed, the union movement has, to a large extent, sold itself down the river by engaging in what amounts to cosy political consensus.
This is the death knell for vibrant industrial relations, because this partnership between what are two diametrically opposed entities removes the naturally adversarial relationship that exists between them.
The right-wing sections of the press consistently smear this point of view as anachronistic and backward-looking. However, we all have to ask ourselves seriously how far we are prepared to sink in the pursuit of mammon to the detriment of long-standing qualities such as decency, equity and fair-play, essential for a properly functioning society. - Yours, etc,
DAVID MARLBOROUGH,
Kenilworth Park,
Dublin 6w.