Congress Proposes Three Year Agreement to take Country through this Crisis
24 Feb 2009
The Executive Council of Congress met today to review the turnout at the February 21 march in support of its 10 Point Social Solidarity Plan.
From an industrial relations perspective it was noted that Irish workers are no longer covered by a national collective agreement on pay and conditions since IBEC, CIF and the Government have all now resiled from the terms set out in the transitional agreement concluded in September last.
The Executive Council fully recognises the enormity of the crisis facing our society and all our citizens, especially workers and their families. Whereas workers are not responsible for the crisis we nevertheless have to deal with its consequences. This is why Congress formulated its Ten Point Social Solidarity Plan. It was our hope that it could form the basis for a medium term agreement to take society through the crisis and do so in a fair way with everybody contributing to the necessary economic adjustment in accordance with their means.
Thus far Congress has been unable to persuade Government and employers of the merits of this approach. They remain wedded to a strategy of resolving the fiscal and currency elements of the crisis through cutting wages in both the public and private sectors. If Ireland was not part of the Eurozone the normal policy response to the problems for exports caused by the weakness of Sterling and the Dollar would be devaluation of our own currency.
That would be equivalent of a pay cut but it would apply to all income and be borne by all sectors of society. The present strategy of a competitive devaluation of wages affects workers' incomes but leaves profits and prices untouched. Moverover, Congress is unconvinced of the effectiveness of this strategy to prop up exports in a recession and where it would impart a deflationary shock to domestic consumer demand. Quite apart from this Congress could never accept driving down wages in the economy while profits remain untouched.
In this context the Executive Council decided today to advise affiliated unions as follows in dealing with employers. Where the terms of the transitional agreement are adhered to by employers unions should use the procedures for determining pay and conditions set out in the agreement. Where the terms of the agreement are not being adhered, or in default of the employer agreeing to negotiate an alternative, then unions are entitled to resort to industrial action. To be prepared for this contingency, it is recommended that unions should ballot their members commencing next Monday, concluding over a period of three weeks, seeking a mandate for industrial action up to and including strike action, to achieve compliance with the terms of the Transitional Agreement, or to achieve an acceptable alternative.
ends