National wage agreements have never meant anything to me directly. I have always worked in the private sector and these agreements don't seem to have any relevance to the companies for which I've worked. I'm dubious about the whole wage agreement/social partnership lark anyway as it's quite anti-democratic. We elect public representatives to deal with these issues. Who elected the likes of IBEC/ISME/ICTU/Fr. Sean Healy etc.
Are you not confusing national pay agreements with public sector benchmarking. These have no relevance to me (well, the wife did benefit from benchmarking, not that I saw it!), as they don't to the vast majority of private sector workers anymore. Whilst generally I loath intervention in the market, I think the national wage agreements had a place and were important in ensuring stability and perhaps making employers and unions treat each other with a bit more respect.I personally think the national wage agreement deals done down through the years have done untold damage to Ireland's competitiveness. In days gone by, people would take a state job at lower pay, but greater stability and stable working hours, as opposed to a private sector job with higher pay where project deadlines must be met regardless of whether it is half past 4 or not. Public sector workers got their cake, ate it, and are now getting fat in their middle-age-dom.
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