SOCIAL Policy in a Competitive Economy is the most political document ever produced by the Irish Business and Employers' Confederation. After decades of unsuccessfully trying to stem the tide of social legislation in Ireland, employers are saying, that they are prepared to embrace the "social market".

If they cannot beat the powerful array of interest groups that have made issues like equality, social exclusion and unemployment central to Government policy, then the employers intend joining it; in the hope that by doing so they will have a more effective say in how those issues are addressed in the future than they have ever had in the past.

In fairness to IBEC, which was only founded in 1990 out of an amalgamation of the old Federation of Irish Employers and the Confederation of Irish Industry, it has been showing an increased awareness of social issues in recent years - especially through its contributions to the National Economic and Social Forum. NESF, which was expected to be little more than a talking shop, has helped nurture the practice, as well as the theory, of social partnership.

Through it, IBEC members have put their names alongside those of trade unionists, community activists, politicians and religious, to a series of reports aimed at tackling the country's main social problems.

Many of the ideas contained in the new IBEC manifesto first saw the light of day in NESF documents, or in recent discussion papers produced by IBEC itself. What is new is that these discussion documents have now become formal IBEC policy. And, while the process was slow, the organisation's director of social affairs, Mr Declan Madden, says it was not divisive.

The IBEC manifesto "unashamedly sets out an enterprise perspective", but it also seeks to take account of broader societal influences and recognises the legitimacy of other views". In particular it "recognises the aspirations of people to improved living standards and social services. It acknowledges that the continuing high levels of investment in many areas which will be needed to ensure social cohesion is advanced, and increased opportunities are enjoyed by the socially disadvantaged and excluded.

"IBEC is therefore committed to building a society in which the principles of equity and equality of opportunity play a central role in policy making. A society which does not endorse these principles will be beset by a range of problems which, in the longer term, will undermine economic and social progress. Such a society is bad for business."

The document outlines IBEC policy in five areas: equality, employee protection, unemployment, social welfare, education and training.

Besides the usual complaints at the lack of resources put into modern languages and the need to gear third level science and technology courses to meet the needs of industry more effectively, IBEC expresses a new concern at the system's failure to tackle the problems of slow learners and drop outs from the education system.

The organisation wants more resources put into education and Mr Madden was scathing about the blanket abolition of third level fees. It would have made more sense, he says, to have put the £60 million a year involved into improving access to third level education for the disadvantaged or else abolishing lees, for selected courses from which there was particular demand for graduates in the economy.

There were also positive overtones, to the old IBEC tune about the inadequacy of government schemes to help the unemployed. While still condemning the amount of duplication and red tape, Mr Madden acknowledges that the Community Employment Programme was a marked improvement on its predecessors. And IBEC is giving a warm welcome to the Local Employment Scheme (LES) which is, interestingly enough, a brainchild of the NESF.

ON the equality front Irish employers now proclaim their commitment to eliminating all forms of discrimination. IBEC is to set up at least 10 pilot projects in member companies to look at practical ways of creating greater opportunities for women and the disabled in particular. However, it goes on to caution that the Irish legal regime "is very progressive and IBEC does not support any moves to tighten it further".

The organisation also takes the opportunity to criticise the "raft of regulations accompanying this body of legislation. For employers, particularly small employers, this plethora of regulation is difficult to deal with. It makes recruitment of staff complex and potentially unnecessarily costly and, in some cases, actually acts as a disincentive to employment."

The core of IBECs strategy is revealed in the next paragraph, which states that, "The real challenge for legislators and employers alike is to provide the best system of employee protection which is compatible with competitiveness both at enterprise and national level. In this context IBEC accepts that employment protection measures may increase in line with the capability of the economy to absorb them without damaging competitiveness."

It complains that "Employers are concerned that the dynamic of change in the area of employee protection is entirely in one direction. There is an overwhelming lack of political commitment to rectifying problems when, these are identified, by employers.

What this means, as far as IBEC is concerned, is that every new measure of social protection needs to be costed and ways of off setting that.

cost found before it is introduced. Mr Madden says that this could be done through tax reforms, including the introduction of lower PAYE and PRSI rates. Another option might be measures to reduce the cost of employer liability insurance.

At a time when many European states are reducing social protection. IBEC is worried that Irish employers may be saddled with additional - costs that will undermine competitiveness. "German government proposals are going through at the moment that unfair dismissal legislation will not cover firms with less than 10 people", says Mr Madden. "And they are increasing the pensionable age by three years.

"There is a danger we are setting our rights at levels of protection that even the most advanced European economies are finding very problematic."

Social Policy in a Competitive Economy contains all the usual concerns of IBEC that social welfare rates are too high to attract people into low paid jobs and that Government expenditure is still outpacing inflation and making radical tax reform impossible. But this remains an impressive contribution to the debate on a new national agreement.

The unions are likely to suspend judgment on how much IBEC attitudes have really changed until pay talks begin this autumn. It is no coincidence that Social Policy in Competitive Economy was launched as trade unions begin meeting to discuss their attitudes to a new agreement ahead of the ICTU special delegate conference on September 26th.

When one senior trade unionist heard about the IBEC document yesterday, he said: "People will wait and see if their actions match their words. But you can rest assured it won't be left to gather dust on the shelf."