THE GOVERNMENT is expected to outline its proposals for securing an economic recovery agreement with the social partners by the end of the week.
A Government spokesman said last night that the Cabinet had been briefed yesterday on the final adjustments to its position for the social partnership talks.
He said that this was expected to be communicated to unions, employers and other groups by the end of the week.
Last week one of the key trade union negotiators, Peter McLoone of Impact, said that talks on agreeing a national economic recovery programme were “staring failure in the face”.
It is unclear as to the potential impact of a failure to reach an agreement on the entire social partnership process which has been in place for 20 years. Some unions have also warned of industrial actions if cutbacks were imposed without agreement.
It is thought that if an overall national deal cannot be concluded some public sector unions may propose the negotiation of an accord for the State sector.
As part of any overall economic recovery agreement, the unions are seeking a €1 billion State investment in job-protection measures as well as a new mechanism to assist private-sector pension schemes facing difficulties and guarantees on jobs, income levels and retirement lump sums for public sector staff.
The employers’ body Ibec has broadly backed the unions’ proposals for a massive exchequer investment in job creation and protection measures while it also is seeking greater State supports for business.
Meanwhile, the community and voluntary pillar of social partnership has said that it will not be walking away from the process even if no agreement can be reached on an economic recovery programme.
Director of Cori Justice Fr Seán Healy said yesterday that it acknowledged that due to the changed economic circumstances high-level goals for social policy development which were set out in the Towards 2016 national agreement may not be met. However, he added that the community and voluntary pillar wanted to engage with the Government on a process for ensuring that the goals were achieved over time.
Fr Healy said that a balance was required between economic and social developments. He said that more than half of the Towards 2016 agreement dealt with social policy areas including 37 pages on the lifecycle framework involving children, persons of working age, older people and those with disabilities.
He said that irrespective of what happened in relation to an economic recovery programme the community and voluntary pillar would not be walking away from social partnership. Among the 23 goals set out in the Towards 2016 agreement were targets that every child should leave school with literacy and numeracy skills.
