Siptu has today condemned Ibec's call for social welfare cuts in next week's supplementary budget.
The union said the employers' group was "adding insult to the injury inflicted on workers losing their jobs" by calling on the Government to cut social welfare rates by 3 per cent.
“While the public finances require correction there is no necessity to crucify the vulnerable, especially in light of last Friday’s ESRI commentary," said Siptu general president Jack O'Connor this morning.
"Essentially it recommended focusing on reducing the deficit by 3 per cent to 4 per cent over 2009 and 2010. This is a challenging figure but one well capable of being met by raising revenue through taxing those who can most afford to pay," he added.
In a submission published yesterday, Ibec said that reducing welfare rates, to bring them into line with changes in the cost of living, would result in savings of €400 million this year.
The organisation also claimed that an adjustment of €3 billion in net terms was the most that the economy could bear in the current point of the business cycle. It said that two-thirds of this should come from expenditure reductions and one-third from increases in taxation.
Mr O'Connor said that Ibec's submission focused exclusively on aids to employers, rather than on those who have lost their job
“It contrasts sharply with the heart rendering images of people queuing on breadlines, so graphically depicted in today’s newspapers and suggests that some employers, like our bankers, have yet to realise the level of being experienced by ordinary people," said Mr O'Connor.