Time to gather round the table, again

Many regard social partnership as an industrial disease. But with pay pressure growing, it could be the answer

Pat Rabbitte
Pat Rabbitte

It may not yet be our winter of discontent. But it is hard to see 2015 running its course without serious activity on the wages front. Erosion of living standards, more than any other single factor, is driving the street protests we saw in 2014 and the disaffection with the government parties.

Too long a sacrifice drives you onto the streets and, nominally, water is as good as any other excuse to say ...