IRISH CONGRESS OF TRADE UNIONS:THE TRADE union movement has urged members to use the general election to vote in a government that cares more about citizens than bond markets and big business.
In a joint statement, the president of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions Jack O’Connor and its general secretary David Begg said: “We must elect a government that will assert the interest of citizens when dealing with the IMF, EU and ECB.”
They said the bailout package was “unmanageable” and must be renegotiated.
“The deflationary effects of the measures in it are such that growth has no chance of reviving. Without growth there will be no new jobs. Without new jobs the burden of austerity will overwhelm us. As well as that the interest rate on borrowing, at 5.8 per cent, is beyond what is sustainable.”
They again called for the time scale for tackling the country’s financial deficit to be extended to 2017.
“If something further untoward were to happen, like an increase in euro zone inflation causing an increase in the ECB interest rate, then the crisis might require a more radical solution like debt restructuring. All of this is still to be played out.”