The real aim of yesterday's Ictu-organised national demonstration was to try and divert the spotlight away from public sector unions' protest over the pension levy and instead focus on the pain being inflicted on all PAYE workers.

Notably down the list of Ictu's 10 "key initiatives" to address the current crisis was the public sector pension levy which came in at number seven – well behind tacking unemployment, the banking crisis and spreading the tax base.

Also, the march was led not by public servants protesting against a levy which will reduce their income by around 4% after tax, but by workers from Waterford Glass and SR Technics, who are set to lose 100% of their income and, in the case of Waterford Glass workers, their pension as well.

While the unions are trying desperately to present a united front against what Ictu regards as Cowen's one-sided approach to the current economic crisis, there is unease within Ictu and the country's largest union, Siptu, that the public sector unions were far too quick to reach for the strike ballot.

Siptu's Jack O'Connor has been keen to back the Ictu line, which is to organise a rolling campaign of action, short of industrial action and involving all PAYE workers.

The real prize for O'Connor and Dave Begg of Ictu is to resurrect partnership talks and get the unions' wider social agenda back on the table.

Both privately believe there will be little public support for striking public servants who are losing a relatively small portion of their income while hundreds of private sector workers are losing their jobs every day.

While there is some recognition that the
public sector union leadership had little option
but to ballot for action in order to assuage the considerable anger among their members, the belief is that industrial unrest will be counter productive. The pension levy may be unfair but closing dole offices and schools is not the best way to secure public support, one senior union leader said last week.

The real test for the unions will come in the wake of this weekend's protest. If it succeeds and Cowen invites the unions back in for talks, will the teachers and the clerical workers, who are due to strike this Thursday, pull back from the brink?

What is at stake for the unions now is not just avoiding a split but preserving a partnership that has served the unions and the wider economy so well over the last 20 years.