"Lord Mayor, Distinguished Guests, Vice President, Delegates and Friends, it is an honour and a privilege to welcome you all as the President of the CWU to the 4th Biennial Conference of our great Union here in Kilkenny.  I note that your wonderful city will celebrate its 400 Anniversary next year and I hope you won’t mind if we start the celebrations a wee bit early.

We hold this Conference of the Communications Workers Union as part of a worldwide Trade Union movement encompassing millions of members with whom we share the goals of freedom from intimidation, freedom of association and an end to exploitation of all workers.  We do so in a global economy where capital moves at ease and usually at the expense of workers. 

Through globalisation we see employers move whole industries, even when profitable, in many cases to Third World countries in an attempt to increase profits by exploiting the low wage rates and poor working conditions in those countries.  We see our fellow Trade Union activists in Asia, South America and Africa jailed, tortured and brutally murdered for their Trade Union activities, all justified by the never-ending greed for more and more profits. We play our part in the CWU in attempting to support those Trade Union colleagues internationally through our International UNI, through the ICTU and indeed directly ourselves. You and our members can also directly play a key role in their struggle by sending messages of support or of censure as required directly through the CWU website. Already such internet campaigns have been successful in progressing workers rights worldwide and those successes will be multiplied if we can increase the numbers joining those campaigns.

Even at home on this small island on the periphery of the European Union, we have seen employers attack Irish workers by using their financial muscle in the Court’s and by the increasing use of Barrister’s throughout the industrial relations machinery of the state. The labour Court, the LRC and the EAT, institutions which have served the State so well and for many years have now been effectively undermined by employers who have used their deep pockets to challenge decisions through the courts as is clearly evidenced by the Ryanair and the Hotel Federations actions. It should no longer be acceptable that justice in this country is influenced to such a critical degree by how much money you have. Given the recent judgements in these areas one would be forgiven for believing that the Irish judiciary were only there to serve capital rather than the greater good of society.

We gather here in circumstances where although we have been in social partnership for approximately 20 years, we are denied the right in many instances by our so-called partners to represent those workers who want to be represented through collective bargaining by a Trade Union. In simple terms many employers and their executives who have made obscene profits and wages over the period of the Celtic tiger, invariably on the backs of Irish workers, are now attempting to use those profits to marginalise the protections workers have achieved through lifetimes of struggles through the Labour Movement.  Against that background it must be time for Irish workers to decide how they will use their economic muscle in the coming years.  Is it now time that each and every one of us asked ourselves a key question before we spend our income on any product or service?  That question must be “Is this product or service manufactured or delivered by Trade Union labour”?  If the answer to that question is no, we should then ask ourselves “Is there an alternative product or service manufactured or delivered by companies where organised Trade Union labour is accepted.”  I believe that all Irish workers and their families and communities need to give a resounding answer to those questions by supporting their Trade Union colleagues. I believe it is now time for the Irish Congress of Trade Unions to instigate a campaign which will allow ordinary people to show their displeasure through their own economic means, at employers and their executives, who believe it is legitimate to exploit working people.  It is well past time that we fought back against those who continuously attack workers rights, pay and conditions.

The Irish Trade Union movement is the biggest voluntary group in Irish civil society.  There are now more workers in Trade Unions here than there has ever been in the history of this state.  Indeed, there are more workers in Trade Unions in the private sector than there are in the public sector. We do accept however that Trade Union density is falling but I will give you an unequivocal guarantee that your Union will be to the fore in reversing that trend as we maintain and defend our right to organise and represent all workers in the wider Communications Industry. The Communications Workers Union must be THE Union of choice for all workers in the industry. Organising workers is an extremely difficult and expensive undertaking but like getting old it is more attractive than the alternative.  Vast sums of money and resources are already being spent by companies to block Trade Unions from recruiting in certain parts of the economy and we have to be prepared to fight the good fight for as long as it takes us to succeed. Our task is even more difficult as it seems that in its efforts to attract multinational investment that the Irish Government has been party to deliberately understating the key role of Trade Unions in our society. Well I for one do not appreciate being treated by our “Partners” as the uninvited guest.

The Irish Trade Union movement is now in the midst of discussions and negotiations on the 2nd phase of the national agreement Towards 2016, the latest in a series of so called National Partnership agreements.  We have entered into those discussions against the hostile background already outlined above.  We also entered into those negotiations in the middle of a recession, a recession which in no small part which has been caused by the greed of worldwide financial institutions and in particular through the sub prime lending crisis.  As a result of the recession we now have senior executives, who continue to pay themselves massive incomes, calling on ordinary working people to tighten their belts, supported by the greedy financial institutions that helped to create the crisis in the first instance. Not for the first time governments and tax payers are being expected to bail out financial institutions and in reality we are now witnessing a new worldwide government phenomenon of nationalising debt and privatising profits. So much for the free market! 

It should therefore come as no great surprise to the Government and employers that the Trade Union movement will not allow its members to be the scapegoats for their greed and mismanagement.  It is not before time that the role of Trade Unions in this society was recognised and this can only be done so in some form of agreement that makes it mandatory for employers to accept that Trade Unions can represent their members through free collective bargaining. In addition Government and employers have to recognise the need to resolve the pension issue by the introduction of mandatory pensions and by protecting defined benefit pension schemes.  Workers also need to be assured in these discussions the protections given to them through labour legislation in this country cannot be bypassed by the exploitation of workers through the misuse of employment agencies.  Obviously of key importance to working people is the need to be protected from the ravages of inflation and the entitlement to be rewarded for the input they have made into the economy in recent years.  None of those demands are excessive and if we wish to continue with the industrial peace that national agreements have delivered, well then there will have to be a financial premium for workers if there is to be any hope of having any new agreement carried. 

Unfortunately Communications Workers’ Union members have not escaped the hostile actions of employers.  Indeed, hundreds of our members in British Telecom (or BT as they prefer to be known nowadays) are being denied the right to representation by our Union.  This is in circumstances where British Telecom purport to run an all island business on the island of Ireland.  It seems under this business model they will treat all of their customers the same but discriminate against you if you work for them in the Republic of Ireland.  How a so-called modern company can impose such discrimination on workers on this island given its turbulent history is absolutely beyond me.  We now have the ridiculous situation that if you are one inch on one side of the border British Telecom will recognise your right to be represented by a Union but if you are an inch on the other side of the border it will discriminate against you.  I believe that the actions of British Telecom flies in the face of the Good Friday Agreement and also damages the ideal of worker integration on this small island.  I give you this guarantee that this Union will not rest until this type of discrimination is wiped out in our industries and I give British Telecom  a guarantee that this campaign will grow nationally, European wide and internationally until they see sense. 

Notwithstanding the hostile actions of British Telecom it gives me great pleasure to welcome to our Conference for the first time delegates from the British Telecom Branch and I am sure you will give them the normal CWU welcome.  I am also delighted to welcome for the first time to our Conference delegates from the O2 Branch and I am sure you will give them all a similar welcome.  It is fair to say now that members from companies outside of An Post and eircom are becoming a growing force within our Union and given the numbers of delegates from the new companies representing those communications workers here today, there is a possibility that I would leave somebody out so I would ask Conference to welcome them all to the CWU family. 

In the mobile area we now have members in Vodafone, Meteor and O2. Our members in all those companies face similar issues with consolidation and outsourcing presenting the greatest challenges, We have full representative rights in Vodafone and Meteor and we are in the process of negotiating a recognition agreement with O2.  It is fair to say that the O2 management here in Ireland do not favour recognising the CWU but pressure has been brought to bear as a result of a global agreement between our International affiliate Union Network International (UNI) and O2’s parent company Telefonica.  We also continue to grow our membership in key Call Centres and two of the bigger ones the American Airlines Call Centre and Global Telesales are also represented here at Conference this year. 

The telecom sector in Ireland and internationally continues to expand and change at an alarming pace.  The convergence of technologies now means that data and voice can be transmitted in many different and complex ways.  These changes have led to the innovation of new product streams while at the same time allowing competitors to enter into the telecoms markets through non traditional means.  This convergence now means that the customer in the future will expect a range of services including voice, data and entertainment in one single package.  The complexity and diversity of this market is now a fact and it is our obligation as the Communications Union in Ireland to go out and organise all workers in our industry.

It is difficult to believe that since we last got together for our Biennial Conference eircom has once again been sold.  On this occasion it has been sold to the Australian firm Babcock & Brown with a 35% stake going to the eircom ESOT.  The privatisation, flotation and numerous sales of eircom now provide an outstanding example of how not to take a public utility out of public ownership.  The whole episode has left a very unpleasant taste and it is absolutely clear that the exercise was not carried out in the best interests of the citizens of Ireland.  It is my view that the whole process needs to be closely studied by all Trade Unions and consumers in this country in order to ensure a similar disaster does not occur with other public utilities in the future.  Notwithstanding that fact we still have in excess of 5,000 members in eircom who deserve the best possible representation they can get.

It is fair to say that particularly in the initial stages, the relationship between Babcock & Brown and the CWU was not what we would have hoped.  The lowest point of that relationship was undoubtedly following the refusal by Babcock & Brown to honour the payment terms of the Toward s 2016 national wage agreement.  There is no doubt in my mind that they were taken aback by the reaction, the solidarity of our Union and indeed of the other Unions within the company.  The almost 100% vote in favour of industrial action to protect the agreement, I believe came as a complete shock to the company.  Matters reached their lowest ebb with the deliberate leaking of confidential personnel information concerning the exit packages of two of our Trade Union Officials to the Independent Newspaper and the outright refusal of the company to share the outcome of its internal investigation into those damaging leaks does not bode well for our future relationship. Notwithstanding those low tactics the Union was successful in dealing with that dispute but that did not spell the end of our difficulties with the company.

  The ongoing speculation in the media and the absence of meaningful contact from the company on the issue of structural separation is a cause of great concern to your Union.  That concern led us to commissioning a report from an Australian Consultant on the company’s proposals and I am sure that those of you who have read it will join me in congratulating Kevin Morgan on a very fine job. His report has raised many serious questions which to date have not been answered to the satisfaction of your Union.  There have recently been indications from the company and within the media that they have decided to put their plans for structural separation on hold because of the state of the markets and the world economy.  That would seem to indicate to me that the issue has not been put to bed but rather been postponed and we will have to remain vigilant in the future on this critical issue. 

The future of eircom and in particular the future delivery of high speed broadband to all the citizens of Ireland must now become part of a national debate.  The attractiveness of Ireland from a job creation perspective largely depends on the infrastructure that is available to investors. One of the key infrastructural necessities in this country at present is the availability of high speed broadband.   We believe that the recent proposals made by eircom to Government for investment in New Generation Networks is essential in order to upgrade the national fixed network to meet the huge broadband demands of our national economy. We would urge the Government to give very serious consideration to those proposals which would provide huge increases in broadband bandwidth to all the main regional centres in the country.  Such an investment, focused on the IT sector, would be a key contributor to the infrastructural transformation of the Irish economy with resultant gains for national productivity. A regulatory regime with more focus on investment can deliver key advantages to all parties: consumers, business, employees and to competitors who would gain access to the new networks.

 We know in eircom that we face continuous change as new technologies emerge and as the competition intensifies but we are confident as a Union that we can continue to manage that change on behalf of our members but we can only do that in circumstances where we have willing partners.  I would like to think that in the short time Babcock & Brown have been here in Ireland that they have learned that lesson and that they will in the future take a more pragmatic approach with the Unions and work in partnership towards what should be a joint aim.  It never ceases to amaze me how the world can change in such a short period of time. At our last Biennial Conference I believe it is fair to say that our members in the Post Office were facing an extremely torrid time with what we viewed as an over aggressive, irresponsible and dishonest Management team. Events since that time have proven us to be correct and it is an unfortunate fact that the damage done to the Postal Service by that Management Team will take a long time to repair. I am also convinced that their actions, fully supported at the time by the Department of Communications, were completely unnecessary and were based on a falsely reported financial position. Their behaviour is all the more difficult to accept as the Postal Service badly needed the wasted three years in order to ensure the Company was prepared for the oncoming postal liberalisation.  Nevertheless despite their best efforts and thanks to you the CWU remains extremely strong within An Post and we continue to grow our membership there. Indeed we are now the only Union within the An Post subsidiaries and the recent announcement of the CWU being accepted as the sole Union in Postbank which incorporates One Direct is most welcome.  

 The appointment of Mr Donal Connell as An Post Chief Executive has undoubtedly made a huge difference to the relationship between the Union and the Company and over the past 18 months we have undertaken the task of bringing the postal service back to the level at which it should be while at the same time addressing the myriad of problems left behind by his predecessor. That process is ongoing but I am happy to report to Conference that all the outstanding pay settlements due under the Transformation Agreement have now been concluded and in the pay arena we now face the difficult task of trying to harmonise pay rates into the future for our members in An Post. At the same time we must also deal with the implementation of the associated change programmes and it is our duty ensure those difficult changes are introduced in a humane fashion. The Collection and Delivery Agreement,  is particularly difficult as it was not a negotiated agreement but rather a Labour Court settlement. Positive changes to that agreement have and are being made as the need to iron out the flaws become obvious through experience.  We also at all times need to be mindful of any adverse impact on the An Post quality of service figures which the change programmes may bring, as those quality of service figures will in the future be instrumental to the pricing structure for An Post.

It is difficult to believe that quality of service in An Post dropped from in or around the 90% margin to almost 60% during the three year reign of the previous management team. It now seems that the ruination of the service in order to prepare it for privatisation, and the destruction of the CWU in An Post, were the main aims of the Management and their supporters during that time. It is difficult to justify their actions in any other way. It is now vitally important that we work in Partnership with the Company to bring quality of service levels back to what they were in the past because quite simply if we do not it will (a) Impact on our ability to get price increases for An Post in the future and (b) Give our valued customers a reason to switch to the competition which postal liberalisation will bring. The European Union plans for postal liberalisation have been delayed many times through the intervention of your Union in cooperation with the other postal unions across Europe and coordinated by UNI (Union Network International). We now have less than 2 years before we feel the full impact of that liberalisation and it is of critical importance to our members and to Irish citizens, how the Government transpose the European Directive into Irish law. We now call on the Minister, Mr Eamonn Ryan to clearly state how the Government will guarantee the Universal Service obligation which provides mail deliveries to all citizens at a uniformed price for up to 5 days per week. We also need to know from the Minister how he will ensure that the service is not left wide open for cherry picking by private individuals who will have no obligation other than profit. We expect that there will be the widest possible public debate on this key public service particularly in circumstances where there has never been any real demand among the public for the liberalisation approach to the Post Office.

We would also be interested in hearing what the new Minister's view of the An Post ESOP is. As far as we are concerned we have a solemn agreement with the Government and the Company in relation to an ESOP.  The endless prevarication by the Department on this key issue for our members in An Post could force us to deal with the issue in a legal manner and that is a road that I believe we should not have to travel. I believe it is not too much to ask and that the Government honour the agreements that they enter into as they would not be slow to lecture us if we were the culprits.

We have also in the Communications Workers Union extended our membership to the international courier firms that operate on this island. We have a full recognition agreement with DPD formerly known as Interlink Ireland which is a wholly owned subsidiary of La Post the French Post Office. Given that we have that recognition Agreement it is now incumbent on us to recruit as many members as possible in that arena. We also have a partial recognition agreement with UPS one of the biggest Delivery Companies in the world. Given the good relationships we have had with that Company over the past number of years, it is now past time that our relationship blossomed into the full recognition agreement.

The biggest difficulty we face in organising in the courier industry in Ireland is that many of the workers involved in that industry are involved on a so called self employed basis. These employment conditions are usually imposed on couriers in order to ensure that they do not benefit from the labour legislation protections negotiated over many years by this movement. I believe we will have to examine all the options open to us to ensure that employers cannot bypass that legislation so easily and if necessary we need to discover ways to re-categorise those workers in order that we can provide them with the service we believe they require.

This week provides us with the opportunity to take our place and state our case as part of a proud Irish Trade Union movement. But it will be your job to ensure that your member’s views in relation to the past two years are expressed and that their hopes are encapsulated in any decisions we take concerning their future. I expect that we will conduct our business in our normal professional, organised and courteous manner. I know we are building a better, stronger and more responsive Trade Union that is now providing a wider range of services to our members than ever before and we must use this gathering as a platform to continue to respond to the ever diverse needs of our members. I am looking forward to your input to the many important debates and indeed to the input of our guests both National and International and I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very successful and enjoyable CWU Conference.