IRELAND needs a more inclusive model for negotiating a national agreement to succeed the Programme for Competitiveness and Work (PCW), the Conference of Religious of Ireland (CORI) says.
Any successor to the PCW should not start with negotiations on pay between unions, employers and government, but with discussion within a wider forum on what the national objectives of such an agreement should be.
CORI has written to the Taoiseach and the Dail party leaders outlining what it considers should be the priorities in sharing out "the national cake". It also says that representatives of disadvantaged groups like the unemployed, the poor, women, disabled and the elderly should be involved in the talks.
Before negotiations begin on specific issues such as pay or tax reform, CORI says the social partners should agree in principle what proportion of national resources should go towards tackling problems like tax reform and unemployment. If the new agreement follows the same pattern as the PCW and its predecessors, the gap between rich and poor will continue to widen.
However, CORI claims the situation has changed since the PCW was negotiated because of the establishment of the National Economic and Social Forum, on which disadvantaged groups have significant representation. "A similar platform could be organised to enable this sector to take its rightful place as a social partner in the next national programme," the organisation says.
There have been three national agreements, five governments and 10 budgets since 1987, but the number of people living below the poverty line remains constant while the number excluded from real work or participation in society has risen. "These developments did not occur because of a reduction in the national cake. In fact, the national cake grew substantially over this period.
"Instead, these developments happened because of decisions made in these various programmes and budgets," CORI says. It characterised those decisions as giving the benefits of growth to the better off and failing to give priority to tackling poverty and exclusion.
"Unless each of these thrusts is reversed in the new programme to succeed the PCW, then the divisions in Irish society will deepen and social cohesion will be put at risk."
Both the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and the Institute of Personnel and Development (which represents personnel and human resource managers) have indicated that they want any successor to the PCW to be more broadly based. However, it is likely to be difficult to agree which new social partners, if any, should be at the table when talks begin in the autumn.