There is a whiff of the boy who shouted wolf from the latest Irish Congress of Trade Unions publication dealing with the offshore outsourcing of white-collar jobs. At a time of considerable public concern about the possible displacement of Irish workers in traditional industries and the substantial inflows of migrant labour, this document raises unnecessary fears about the security of middle-class jobs.
Ictu has a responsibility to represent and to defend the interests of its affiliated members. And that function is under intense scrutiny as Siptu, the largest trade union in the State, meets today to consider whether it will enter negotiations on a new social partnership agreement. But the issue of "offshore outsourcing" is a double-edged weapon that should be approached with caution. After all, this economy has been - and continues to be - a major beneficiary from high-tech foreign investment in pharmaceuticals, financial services and information technology. A return to old-style protectionism would be in nobody's interest.
The absence of hard data on the extent of offshore outsourcing and the displacement of Irish jobs by foreign workers is a major problem. Research on these issues should be undertaken by the Government as a matter of urgency in order to address public fears and social tensions. In that regard, a headline-grabbing figure of 38,000 white-collar jobs to be lost abroad every year, initially used in the Ictu document, was later reduced to between 10,000 and 25,000.
The Government is officially committed to moving the economy up the value-added chain. But so far it has failed to provide the services necessary to make that happen in a coherent and seamless way. It trumpets the need for life-long training. And then reduces financial supports for single parents in third-level education. Worse, funding at local authority level for basic adult literacy programmes is not guaranteed.
Ictu makes the valid point that when jobs are lost they are frequently replaced by younger, highly-skilled workers. And it is seeking a package of measures that will anticipate the loss of sectoral employment; provide education and retraining for older workers and protect their incomes through a restructured social welfare system. In the short term, however, it wants Irish labour law to be strengthened. And it favours the imposition of a rigorous regime on foreign companies engaged in major public contracts. Yet, it wants to exclude hospitals, infrastructure projects and most public services from the EU services directive.
Ictu is in campaigning mode. The loss of white-collar jobs is likely to generate concern among middle-class communities and, eventually, to impact on the attitudes of politicians. Even then, however, offshore outsourcing is expected to contribute to economic growth here as lost jobs are replaced by higher-skilled and better-paid work. Because of that, it would be a mistake for the Ictu to embark on a negative, anti-competitive campaign.