Sir, - Peter Cassell's attack on the Minister for Enterprise and Employment, Richard Bruton (Irish Times, July 11th), for his alleged attempts to block EU legislation which enhanced employee / employer consultation and dissemination of information is interesting, coming as it does just one day after you published an article about a new study from the European Foundation in Loughlinstown ("Closing the Gap", by Keith Sisson). This claims that Europe is losing out to the US and Japan simply because employers will not involve workers in running the business.
Management gurus Drucker, Handy, Peters, et al, have been recommending enhanced employee involvement for years. Professor Fukayama, speaker at this year's IBEC annual conference, is quoted as saying that managers must "pay more attention to treating their workers . . . as long term assets" (Irish Times, business section, May 10th). Assets need to be nurtured, not squandered.
Sadly, it seems that Minister Bruton and his department, and many employers for that matter, are still living in the Tayloristic past. Perhaps it's time the Minister's thinking came into the latter 20th century, before his office becomes known as the "Minister for Enterprise and Unemployment". Yours, etc., Kilmacoo, Athlone, Co Westmeath.