Pay and

Yes —— ORIGINS OF NWAs lowest in Europe, debt. To get a clear answer it is useful to look back at the history of wage bargaining and taxation over the past two decades, During the 60s the trade unions negotiated a nationa | ments, pay norm which was usually considered a minimum and individual unions were free to fight for additional increases. Asaresult, wage rose rapidly. At the same time the tax level in Ireland was one of the As the policy of relying on foreign multinational investment accelerated the national debt grew and the government steeply increased income tax to finance it. Today Ireland has one of the highest income tax levels in Europe. T0 achieve this dramatic turnabout the government had to change the nature of wage bargaining. To prevent workers clawing back what was taken from them in tax, the strait-jacket of the National Wage Agreements and the Employer-L abou Conference was imposed, Now instead of workers clawing back tax through wage increases, the government was able to claw back wage increases through taxes, A look at average earnings during the 70s shows that this is exactly how the NWAs worked. Average earnings (after allowing for inflation) rose by 4.4% annually. But after taxation and social insurance this was reduced to 1.7%,. Thus it was government revenues which benefited from the NWAs most. The need for massively increased government revenue was in turn dictated by the growing national STRATEGY AGAINST NWAs The anger of workers has been directed against the union leadership because it has played a decisive role in enforcing the government!s and employers! strategy of skinning the workers, The slow growth of wages compared td overall! economic growth was accomplished through the National Wage AgreeWhy then didn't the rank and file backlash against the |CTU come on s the question of wages rather than taxation? The answer to that question is important for developing a strategy to break the strangle hold of the existing trade union leader ship.

By shoving the tax question into the realm of generalities the union leaders have also prepared the way for more robbery under the new NWAs, It is no accident that the proposal of the Dublin Council of Trade Unions threatened that any renewed tax campalgn be focused on the 1981 Budget was endorsed by the ICTU conference. This r means that the 1CTU can go ahead and negotiate a new wage agreement while 'eaving the thorny problem of tax reform in the background, The anti-NWA wing of the trade union movement is thereby deprived of an important weapon in the fight against wage restraint.

As the latest economic recession bites deeply it becomes all the more important to defend workers! living standards, Activists in the Trades Councils and union branches must lead the fight back. The experience of the Tax Revolt has proven one point: even the most trenchent resistance of the ICTU and union executives can be overcome by determined rank and file leader ship. It is up to the Trades Councils and union branches to regain the initiative from the top bureaucratic leaders, with a campaign to link tax reform to wage bargaining.