Let’s accept a smaller slice of a shrinking cake. The Irish Congress of Trade Unions and Irish public sector unions in crisis

In April 2013, Irish public sector workers have overwhelmingly rejected a new national collective bargaining agreement in a union ballot. If a majority of union members in a majority of public sector unions within the Irish Congress of Trade Union (ICTU) had endorsed the proposed 'Croke Park 2' agreement, the public sector wage bill would have been cut by another 7 per cent with union approval, although public sector workers have already suffered a reduction in their earnings in the order of 25 per cent since 2009. This development raises two questions. First, why is there a sudden need for an additional one-billion-euro cut in Irish public sector pay? Secondly, why were the leaders of Ireland's biggest public sector unions - namely, SIPTU and IMPACT - campaigning for a 'yes' vote despite the pay cuts that the proposed deal entailed?