GOVERNMENT POLICY on jobs will be sharply criticised by Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) general secretary David Begg today.
Mr Begg will accuse the Government of “sleepwalking into what will be an economic and social disaster for this country’’.
Addressing a Dublin conference, Mr Begg will warn the Government that the State is in a similar space to the situation that it faced on the night of September 29th, 2008, when the banking crisis had to be confronted.
“The situation is that serious and I cannot stress or emphasise this too strongly.
“Unless there is immediate, urgent and significant Government intervention on jobs, it is my assessment that our situation could be close to hopeless.’’
Mr Begg will refer to the 439,100 people on the Live Register in May, and that Ireland’s jobless rate is 3.1 per cent above the EU average.
He will argue that the State’s true employment rate, including those forced to emigrate and those staying in or returning to education, could be has high as 20 per cent.
Mr Begg is also expected to point out that there has been a 50 per cent collapse in construction employment since the peak of 286,000, or 400,000 if ancillary industries like builders’ providers are added.
“The scale of this collapse is epitomised by a former self-employed building worker who admitted on the Joe Duffy show last week that he was reduced to stealing milk.’’
Mr Begg will note that in February of last year, Ictu had made employment a cornerstone of a 10-point plan as a response to the economic crisis.
The two principal initiatives were: preserving existing jobs through worksharing and active labour market interventions and increased spending on infrastructure to mitigate the impact of the collapse of the construction industry.
“Since then we have put forward a series of proposals on job protection and creation, with the objective of making jobs the number one official priority.
“The Government has ignored or rebuffed every single measure.’’
Mr Begg is expected to argue that the case for investment in infrastructure was compelling in its own right.
There was still a major infrastructural deficit in the State, and the quality of infrastructure was a core component of competitiveness, Mr Begg will tell the conference.
“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to achieve real value for money.’’
