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INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DUBLIN 000545 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/01/2018 
TAGS: ECON EFIN ETRD PREL PGOV EI
SUBJECT: IRELAND'S SOCIAL PARTNERSHIP DEAL'S GOOD ENOUGH -- 
FOR NOW 
 
DUBLIN 00000545  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
Classified By: PEO Chief Ted Pierce.  Reasons 1.4 (b/d). 
 
¶1. (C) Summary: On September 18 the parties to the Social 
Partnership talks (principally business groups and trade 
unions) agreed on a provisional deal that, among other 
things, would freeze public sector wages for the next 11 
months.  A leading business representative told us this is 
the best deal his membership could have hoped for given the 
tight economic situation.  A representative from one of the 
leading unions agreed but added that trade union members will 
be expecting "a better deal" at the next round of talks in 
¶2010.  Both said that the current agreement is meant to get 
the nation through what looks to be a very sharp downturn for 
the Irish economy.  It is now up to the government to 
"officially" present the draft to all concerned parties for 
an up-or-down vote.  The American business community is 
watching the outcome of the talks closely because a breakdown 
of the social partnership model threatens Irish economic 
stability -- one of the key reasons for the huge inflow of 
U.S.-sourced investment.  End summary. 
 
Social Partnership -- What is it? 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) The Social Partnership process describes the (roughly) 
triennial discussions to reach voluntary agreements on 
workplace-related topics, most importantly wages.  The 
government, the business community (represented by the Irish 
Business and Employers Confederation (IBEC)), and the trade 
unions (represented, in part, by the Irish Congress of Trade 
Unions (ICTU)) participate in the talks.  The first social 
partnership agreement was reached in 1987 and is often 
credited with being one of the sparks that ignited the Irish 
economic rebound.  The government's role is to act as 
facilitator of the process and to draft and present the 
official agreement for final approval by the parties. 
 
The Deal 
-------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) Under the terms of a deal covering the next 21 
months, the participants in the social partnership talks 
agreed to halt public sector wage hikes for the 11 months, 
freeze private-sector, unionized workers pay for three 
months, and, according to the Irish Department of Enterprise, 
Trade, and Employment website, "set up a process to develop a 
national framework on the employment and rights of temporary 
agency workers."  Given that the Irish government is expected 
to run a substantial budget deficit in 2008 and 2009, tax 
cuts, a key component of previous deals, are not included in 
this agreement. 
 
The Business Community 
---------------------- 
 
¶4. (C) Econoff spoke to Danny McCoy, head of policy at IBEC 
and lead negotiator for the business community, who said that 
this was about the best deal his constituency could have 
hoped for in the uncertain economic environment.  Initially, 
union representatives wanted pay increases tied to 
"unrealistically high" rates of inflation but ultimately had 
to settle for a hike of just over four percent for the 
21-month period.  McCoy said this was slightly above what his 
membership had indicated it had budgeted for 2009. 
 
¶5. (C) McCoy said that IBEC would be able to get its 
membership to back the agreement but was not sanguine that 
the private-sector unions could convince their members.  He 
explained that there is much confusion about what was 
actually agreed on the pay deal and demonstrated -- in great 
detail -- that the public-sector pay pause would not actually 
kick in until late 2009.  For this reason, he reasoned that 
the government would have little difficulty getting the 
public sector unions to fall in line. 
 
¶6. (C) McCoy agreed that, as union membership declines, the 
social partnership model may become unnecessary in the near 
future.  For now, though, he said that "the best thing about 
the current deal is that there was a deal" and that the 
markets would have reacted poorly to a collapse in 
negotiations.  He warned that, as a sop to the unions, the 
government in the next few years, "will likely put 
restrictions on the use of agency (temporary) workers," to 
the detriment of Irish business.  However, he doesn't foresee 
that the government will enact any kind of statutory union 
recognition -- a move strongly opposed by the American 
business community. 
 
The Unions 
---------- 
 
 
DUBLIN 00000545  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶7. (C) Econoff met with Paul Sweeney, economic advisor to 
ICTU, who played a key role in the negotiations and shared 
with us a draft copy of the agreement.  Like McCoy, Sweeney 
believes that this is as good a deal as the unions could have 
reached in the current economic environment.  He worries, 
though, whether IBEC can get its membership to approve the 
document.  While some union reps have complained about the 
pay freezes, Sweeney estimates that inflation will fall below 
the projections used during the negotiations and that real 
wages will be significantly higher as a result.  He also 
noted that the document does not substantially address 
non-wage issues, many of which are very important to his 
membership. 
 
¶8. (C) Sweeney said that the majority of the unions, with the 
exception of the "Trotskyites," will approve this deal.  He 
said the worsening macroeconomic environment will make it 
easier to get approval because everybody wants certainty 
above all else.  However, he noted that the union leadership 
intends to sell this as a shorter-than-customary transitional 
agreement designed to get the parties through a prolonged 
economic downturn in Ireland.  Given this pitch, he said the 
unions will expect a better deal for labor in the next round 
of negotiations in 2010.  In particular, he highlighted the 
issue of union recognition as being a key component of any 
future agreement and pointed out that the main opposition to 
this comes from the American Chamber of Commerce. 
 
¶9. (C) Sweeney dodged the question of whether the social 
partnership process was anachronistic, only admitting that it 
would likely have to evolve into something different.  He did 
say that the recent negotiations were cordial (all the main 
players know each other quite well) but tense.  He had 
nothing but praise for the way former Prime Minister Bertie 
Ahern had handled previous negotiations and, in a mild swipe 
at Prime Minister Brian Cowen said that, "the breakdown of 
talks in August would not have happened if Bertie were still 
Taoiseach (Prime Minister)." 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶10. (C) We expect the agreement to be approved by all sides 
-- not because the sides are happy with everything included 
(or not included) but because going back to the negotiating 
table raises the risk that a deal will never get done.  With 
the Irish financial sector taking a beating and an historic 
turnaround in the government's fiscal situation for the 
worse, the government will not want to add labor unrest to 
the mix.  The U.S. business community is watching the process 
with keen interest because economic stability is one of the 
key attractions for locating in Ireland.  A breakdown in the 
social partnership model threatens this stability and could 
increase the risk of investing here. 
FOLEY