Resisting change 'not an option', Ahern tells unions

The Taoiseach has warned Aer Rianta and CIÉ workers that resistance to change in the commercial semi-State sector is "not an option".

Speaking at the mid-term review of Sustaining Progress in Dublin Castle today, Mr Ahern defended the Government's plans to restructure both companies, saying there should be no conflict between the development of "efficient, competitiveness enterprises and the maintenance of good working conditions".

He said: "Decent employment standards are integral part of what Irish society is all about."

He acknowledged "the very legitimate concerns that workers had in the face of such change" and said he saw no attraction in the "race to the bottom" approach sometimes associated with privatisation.

He said: "I freely acknowledge that not everything that has been done in every instance has contributed to successful change management.

"What we need is a way of recognising what has to be done and managing adjustment in an equitable and sustainable fashion," Mr Ahern said.

The Taoiseach paid homage to the social partnership, saying "it was thanks in no small part to Sustaining Progress that we weathered, well, the global economic downturn, which began in 2001."

He noted the worrying increase in redundancies in the last two years but claimed: "We have come through the downturn in better shape within the framework of social partnership than many of those who see no need of a social dialogue process."

Mr Ahern criticised those who claim the State should be moving away from collective bargaining structures, saying "now is not the time to throw away the finely balanced and flexible procedures which has served us so well".

He said: "Recent evidence suggests that over 70 per cent of employees in Europe have wages set in consequences of some form of collective bargaining."