Mr Des Geraghty's election as vice-president of SIPTU, the State's largest trade union, will be greeted with no small measure of relief by the union's hierarchy. With 51,500 votes, Mr Geraghty has not just secured a very strong popular mandate, he has also seen off the threat posed by the Waterford rank-and-file activist, Carolann Duggan, who jolted the SIPTU leadership when she secured over 38,000 votes in the contest for the union presidency earlier this year. On this occasion, Ms Duggan's support declined but she still secured a creditable 21,000 votes. There is a strange irony in Mr Geraghty being seen as some kind of standard-bearer for the trade union establishment. For years, Mr Geraghty himself was demonised by some in the trade union movement as a radical, confrontational left-winger. But it would now appear that Mr Geraghty is seen by the union membership as someone who can build a bridge between traditional trade unionism and the more modern working environment with its emphasis on partnership and consultation. Mr Geraghty's first task will be to acknowledge how a grassroots figure like Ms Duggan tapped a deep well of dissatisfaction among low-paid workers in SIPTU. For many of these workers, the union leadership in Liberty Hall appears overpaid and remote from their concerns. The union leadership has already responded in part by agreeing to cut the salaries of its three leading officials by more than 20 per cent.
But clearly, further initiatives will be needed to bridge the communications gap between Liberty Hall and the shop floor - especially at a time when wage increases tend to flow automatically from national wage agreements and not as a result of local bargaining. The current Strategic Development Initiative in SIPTU, which is seen as a means of devolving more power to local members, is an encouraging first step.
Mr Geraghty also faces the wider challenge of increasing the union's membership, which has remained virtually static at about 197,000, despite the economic boom. Part of the problem for the union is that many of the American hi-tech multi-nationals prefer to operate in a non-union environment. And with workers in these companies enjoying good levels of pay, there is no great clamour for union recognition. One of Mr Geraghty's tasks is to make SIPTU appear relevant to the needs of these workers. In his new post, Mr Geraghty will have primary responsibility for the union's industrial strategy, including the power to decide on possible industrial action. But he will also know that in voting for him, SIPTU members are endorsing the principles of partnership and solidarity, with which he is now identified. The union membership, in the end, clearly has little taste for the kind of class warfare favoured by Ms Duggan.
That said, Mr Geraghty will have to deliver real, tangible benefits to SIPTU members. He has made an impressive start by making the case for lower house prices, greater tax equity and additional child-care services. These are the kinds of issues which are directly relevant to tens of thousands of SIPTU members. But Mr Geraghty and the rest of the SIPTU leadership must show that they can effect change on these and related issues if the union is to maintain its position in national life.