Madam, - So the unions are waiting for the Government to present them with new proposals for cost reductions in the public service.
Remind me again, who's running the country? - Yours, etc,
PHILIPPE BRODEUR CELADA,
Blacklion Spring,
Greystones,
Co Wicklow.
Madam, - The public sector unions have decided to pressurise the Government by, inter alia, ensuring sick people have operations deferred by closing operating theatres and working parents have to take a day off by shutting schools.
In essence their policy is to hurt the innocent until the Government meets their demands. If, as they claim, their strike is to show their anger, this could surely be better demonstrated by a mass rally on a Sunday coupled with the donation of a day's pay to charities which aid the needy.
Genuine public servants will respect public institutions and resort to the Labour Court and Labour Relations Commission to resolve industrial disputes. They will also use the ballot box to pursue political objectives.
We must find some means of separating politicians from involvement in the provision of public services, other than as policymakers and regulators, otherwise we will continue to have those services provided based on political expediency. - Yours, etc,
CYRIL McNAMEE,
Hillside,
Greystones,
Co Wicklow.
Madam - The one-day strike scheduled for November 24th and the threat of more are further demonstrations that the social partnership process has degenerated into a soapbox for lobbyists acting exclusively for their own particular vested interests.
This pending strike is nothing other than a tantrum-venting event for which there is no attainable objective, but hundreds of thousands of other people will have to endure its very disruptive consequences.
Do those promoting this strike ever consider the boundaries of the social contract they have with society - and to what extent do they expect the forbearance of a nation that is under sustained and intensifying social and economic pressure?
The Revenue Commissioners have confirmed to me that 383,585 persons were granted tax relief on trade union subscriptions at a cost to the Exchequer of €30 million in 2008, an increase of €5 million over 2007. What value is society as whole getting for this tax foregone? This data also suggests that only 17.4 per cent of the Irish labour force is unionised.
Martin Wall reported (News, November 9th) that employers' body Ibec is the recipient of very substantial funds from State bodies. Ibec is also a most strident and single-minded advocate of cuts in public expenditure.
Perhaps the departmental representatives who are directors of State boards might bear this advocacy in mind and ensure that this abundant cash transfer to Ibec and other lobbyists is pruned radically.
Ibec's advocacy for private sector business could then proceed unimpeded, and the ample resources of the State could take care of the State's own interests.
The Minister for Finance might also reflect on whether it really is necessary to grant tax relief on trade union subscriptions. It is a relief that has only been granted relatively recently and its per capita value to those receiving it is inconsequential.
Vibrant trade union support for its discontinuation would be a tangible acknowledgement of the need to balance the Budget. - Yours, etc,
MYLES DUFFY,
Bellevue Avenue,
Glenageary,
Co Dublin.