TAOISEACH BRIAN Cowen has warned that cuts in public sector pay and pensions will have to form part of the budget considerations. In response union leaders have threatened strike action.
Mr Cowen’s comments came yesterday only hours before he met unions and employers to discuss the prospects of an economic recovery agreement between the social partners.
The Taoiseach told Opposition leaders in the Dáil that the Cabinet was currently discussing a range of measures as part of the budget process. “Like the leader of the Labour Party, we believe public sector pay and pensions need to be controlled,” he told Eamon Gilmore, who accepted in a television interview on Monday night that the overall public sector pay bill would have to be reduced in the budget.
“In light of the scale of the adjustment that is necessary, reductions in those areas have to be part of the equation. The manner in which that is achieved can be the subject of further discussions. There is no doubt that the scale of adjustment is such that this issue cannot be avoided,” he said.
Mr Cowen told Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny that pay and pensions comprised a considerable proportion of total public expenditure and he refused to rule out low- and middle-income public servants from any cuts.
“The suggestion that there are large categories which can be immune from consideration would not allow one to draw up the sort of budget that would meet the imperative in the situation that we face,” he said. The Taoiseach added that the public service was no different from private sector firms facing a crisis in their business.
“In the private sector we have seen pay levels, pension arrangements, work practices and working patterns and hours featuring as part of the solution as employers, employees and union representatives work together in seeking to retain jobs and avoid redundancies. The same is true of the public service,” Mr Cowen said.
Peter Mc Loone, the general secretary of Impact, the country’s largest public sector union, said last night that on the basis of the Taoiseach’s comments it was “almost inevitable that there will be strikes in the public sector before the budget as people seek to protect what they have left”.
He forecast that the results of a ballot of his members for a mandate for strike action in the event of the Government introducing pay cuts would be carried by more than 80 per cent when the results are announced today.
Other union sources said last night that if Mr Cowen’s comments represented the Government’s official position it was highly unlikely that the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) would support engagement in the process when its executive meets to consider the issue today.
Siptu president Jack OConnor, speaking after talks with the Governlast night, said there was sharp disagreement between unions and the Government on the best way of approaching the problems faced by the country. “I do not think it would be fair to say that there was departure from the stated positions of both sides, he said. Mr OConnor said that they didnt deal exclusively with the issue of public sector pay but rather broader economic strategy.
Ictu is scheduled to publish details today of its campaign of opposition to cuts in pay and public services.
It has already announced a national day of protest for Friday, November 6th.
The trade union Unite said that it would ballot its members in the public sector to take whatever action is necessary, up to and including full strike action, to protect jobs, pensions and pay.
Unite represents staff in the education, health and local authority sectors as well as in State agencies.
Employer group Ibec warned that the jobs crisis was threatening Ireland’s social and economic fabric. It said that while cuts in public expenditure were necessary decisive action on employment was also needed.