A Savage Attack on Working People

The Executive Council of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions has condemned Budget 2010 as "a savage and brutal attack on working people and the most vulnerable - the single worst budget in the history of the state."

The Executive Council unanimously adopted a motion denouncing the measures contained in Budget 2010. It described the budget as "a profoundly ideological exercise that attacks working people, the unemployed - particularly jobless youth - and families. Its aim is to drive down the wages and living standards of working people across the entire economy."

Congress General Secretary David Begg said: "In January of this year we pointed out that the official strategy was to drive down wages to compensate for our inability to devalue the currency and we have campaigned against that foolish plan. It is now a reality and if anyone still doubts it all they need do is turn to page seven of Minister Lenihan's budget speech, where he lays it out in black and white.

(The exact quote is: "But membership of monetary union also means devaluation is not an option. Therefore the adjustment process must be made by way of reductions in wages, prices, profits and rents." To date, Government has taken action on just one of those issues, wages).

Mr Begg said: "Budget 2010 offers no hope and no vision. It takes huge sums of money out the economy the only thing it will stimulate is unemployment. And it is characterised by a harshness that is quiet breathtaking: some €70 million in extra taxes on the wealthy but €760 million is taken off social welfare recipients.

"It is neither an exaggeration nor an over reaction to say that Budget 2010 marks a watershed in how the trade union movement deals with Government," Mr Begg concluded.

 

 

Congress: Decision to End Talks a "Catastrophic Public Policy Failure"

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions said today (December 4) that it noted with astonishment and deep regret the Government decision to terminate discussions with the Public Services Committee on its alternative approach to achieving a €1.3 billion cut in the public sector pay bill.

"That this decision was taken following a hostile campaign of opposition to the proposals before they could be either finalised or explained is inexplicable." said David Begg, General Secretary of Congress.

Mr Begg went on to say that he felt that an opportunity for public service reform was being lost and that it was unlikely to ever arise in the same way again.

"The people who condemned this union initiative out of hand concentrated solely on the bridging mechanism for 2010, which was only a secondary part of the overall plan. They failed to appreciate, or perhaps did not want to hear the detailed blueprints for medium term reform and cost savings set out in documents agreed for each sector of the public service, which were the primary focus of the union proposal." he added.

Mr Begg reiterated the Congress view that the Government's approach to cutting the Exchequer deficit was 'too brutal, too quick'. A more balanced approach between taxation and expenditure cuts in the period up to 2017 had been set out in the Congress alternative 10 point strategy for A Better Fairer Way and in its Pre-Budget Submission.

The proposal for public sector transformation was one part of that strategy but it also included proposals to:

  • Make the better off shoulder a fair share of the burden of fiscal adjustment;
  • Protect peoples' homes from repossession;
  • Reduce unemployment by interventions to keep people at work and using a National Recovery Bond to finance infrastructure;
  • Maintain social welfare rates.
  • Devise a strategy to protect private sector pensions.

In conclusion Mr Begg said "I profoundly regret that there is now no possibility of influencing a budget towards social solidarity. In time to come this will be seen as catastrophic public policy failure".

 

Wealthy Must Pay More

Government must now "choose between continued deference to the very wealthy or genuine support for low to middle income earners and the vulnerable in Irish society," Congress General Secretary David Begg has said.

Outlining the details of the Congress pre-Budget Submission, Mr Begg said new taxes on wealth could "generate substantial new resources for the state. We no longer have the luxury of maintaining the fiction that all the wealth in this country has suddenly evaporated. It has not and, in the interests of wider society, it must be pursued and taxed.

"Our own figures show there is real scope for raising substantial sums in this area - perhaps as much as €2.3 billion in 2010 and more in the years ahead.

"We're talking about more tax for high earners, a new rate of minimum tax for the wealthy, pursuing tax exiles and raising Capital Gains. These are just a few examples from a range of options we have compiled."

Mr Begg also said that if Budget 2010 was to have any hope of assisting a general recovery in the economy, it would have to make job creation and protection a centrepiece.

"Last week Congress held a Jobs Conference in Dublin, at which we heard speakers from Germany, Holland and Denmark outline how their countries have successfully tackled unemployment. There is nothing - apart from an absence of political will - to stop us learning from their good example and adopting similar schemes.

"Equally, we have published proposals detailing how several thousand new jobs can be created in the 'green economy' and have also proposed a National Recovery Bond to assist the construction sector, create jobs and address deficits in our infrastructure.

Mr Begg said Congress also believed that homeowners in difficulty with mortgage repayments, should have recourse to a "NAMA-style scheme that addresses their problems and allows them to stay in their home. It is not good enough to bail out banks and ignore homeowners," Mr Begg concluded.