TRADE UNIONS are expected to seek Government initiatives on pension reform, employment protection and amendments to the controversial pension levy in the public sector at talks today on a new social partnership agreement on economic recovery.
During the talks over the coming days, unions are also likely to put forward suggestions that the Government could use the new National Asset Management Agency (Nama) to effectively implement the recommendations of the Kenny report on controlling the provision of development land which dates back to the 1970s.
Senior union leaders said yesterday the Kenny report had argued that all land should be taken into public ownership at a premium of 25 per cent over agricultural value, and this could then be distributed by the State for development.
“If the Government really wanted to implement the Kenny report it could do it now via Nama.
“There is a potential to the Nama situation that might not work out too badly in the long term. You could get to a point in the future where you would never again have a speculative boom,” said one senior union leader.
Union leaders also warned that the new talks would have to aim at managing the way cutbacks were being implemented in Government departments and, in particular, the Health Service Executive (HSE).
“There are large numbers of circulars issuing from central Government and the HSE telling everybody to cut back this, that and the other. If we do not get some process to manage that it will blow up, there is nothing surer. There is an explosion waiting to happen somewhere in the system,” a senior union leader said.
The status of the national pay agreement reached last autumn between the social partners will also be a key issue on the agenda.
The employers’ group Ibec has sought that the pay deal be suspended given the deteriorating economic situation.
However, the unions have argued that the agreement cannot be abandoned as dozens of companies have already agreed to pay all or part of the increases set out in the deal.
Some senior union leaders believe the only reason some employers are taking part in the talks is that they fear “throwing the baby out with the bathwater” and worry about how pay will be determined when the economy picks up.
Talks on a social solidarity deal for economic recovery broke down just before Easter when unions rejected a Government paper as being too vague.
Government officials yesterday met with the social and community pillar.
Following the meeting Cori Justice said it was “challenging the Government to reveal whether or not it had plans to privatise large swathes of public services”.
Cori director Fr Seán Healy said: “A close examination of the Budget documentation shows that Government plans to balance its books while reducing tax revenue far below the EU average. If Government follows through on this then the only way that circle can be squared is by privatising large parts of the services currently provided in areas such as education or health. Cori Justice believes that such a move would have huge negative implications for fairness and for the vulnerable in Irish society.”
Cori Justice called on Government to clarify its vision for where it sees Ireland in five years time, and whether or not privatisation of substantial parts of the social services funded by the exchequer forms part of that vision.