The convention approved the MMWU s return to the Confederation of Russian Trade Unions, which it left in 1992, and affiliation to the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions.
Management refuses negotiations.
About 540,000 trade unionists in Ireland have accepted a new national deal for a 16 percent pay hike over the next three years twice the level of the previous agreement. But unions have been divided over the package, the latest in Ireland s consensus-based politics which also includes tax cuts and benefit increases. The deal provides for a minimum 25 percent increase in take-home pay over 33 months. Most of the hike comes in guaranteed pay rises totaling 15.75 percent. Part will be funded by the administration through tax reductions.