The trade union movement "will not wear" attempts by the Government to introduce unilaterally cutbacks in Community Employment programmes for the long-term unemployed, SIPTU vice-president Mr Des Geraghty warned yesterday.
He was commenting on proposals by the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ms Harney, to reduce CE places by 4,500. Mr Geraghty was speaking at the launch of a report on initiatives for the long-term unemployed in Dublin's north inner city, which found that CE schemes have not adequately helped the disadvantaged to find jobs.
The report on The Employment Network (TEN) concluded that many job vacancies will remain unfilled without better community supports.
It also claimed that more could be done, in liaison with Dublin Corporation, to generate jobs in the north-east inner city through "new models of estate-based management in local flat complexes".
The TEN initiative is one of a number of projects in which longterm unemployed people over the age of 35 are offered full-time jobs within the "social economy" for three years. In most cases they provide back-up support in reception, caretaking, administration, maintenance and the cleaning areas.
The report, which was prepared by the former minister of State for labour affairs, Ms Eithne Fitzgerald and Ms Brid Ingoldsby of the Allwrite consultancy, said the TEN initiative had not provided an adequate "bridge" to the mainstream jobs market in the third and final year of the programme.
Mr Geraghty said that while improvements were needed in such programmes, they remained vital in many disadvantaged areas.
"Simply cutting the numbers on CE schemes in response to the growth of job opportunities in the labour market fails to address the many complex needs being met through a variety of job schemes," he said.