Begg confident of pay deal

THE country’s trade union head said yesterday that gloomy economic predictions should not prevent workers getting substantial increases in a new wage agreement.

By comparison with the rest of the European Union, the economy was still in a healthy position, according to Irish Congress of Trade Unions general secretary David Begg.

Viewing the Department of Finance’s prediction of a 3% economic growth rate as pessimistic, Mr Begg sided with economists who said that, based on exports, a growth rate of between five and five and a half per cent could be expected

“That is at the upper limit of what we can sustain in the long term in terms of economic growth,” he said.

But the optimistic feeling that there was scope for generous pay deals was not correct, according to a leading employers group representative.

The economy was at a crossroads and it was vital that Irish business remained competitive with the country’s main trading partners, IBEC industrial relations director Brendan McGinty said.

“The reality is now that we are into a different economic landscape to that which we have been used to and the fact of the matter is the slower growth limits the resources available for all sorts of expenditure initiatives, and all sorts of expectations must reflect this reality,” he said.

The employers and union representatives clashed on the payment of wage increases to public sector workers under benchmarking recommendations.

Given the state of the economy, Mr McGinty said that full implementation of the benchmarking rises in the way the unions have sought simply could not be afforded. Public sector workers seeking to be paid the same as the private sector would have to accept the terms and conditions of the private sector as well, he said.

“To the extent that public sector workers have said that they wanted to be benchmarked with the private sector, then they must also accept the ability to pay conditions that apply in the private sector, just as equally. That raises the issue of a substantial period of phasing of the benchmarking award that could be in excess of the duration of the PPF,” he said.

But Mr Begg said implementation of benchmarking did not guarantee another national wage agreement.

“It’s easy to see that unless there is an agreement on benchmarking, it’s highly unlikely that we could achieve an overall agreement,” he said.