Unions: Government not looking to alter agreement

THE Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) says the Government has given no indication that it wants to reduce pay increases or lengthen pay pauses agreed in the national wage agreement, as part of its economic recovery programme.

During a two-hour meeting with the social partners, including unions and employers, Taoiseach Brian Cowen said he wanted each member of the partnership to make a submission on the way forward for the economy.

Afterwards, ICTU general secretary David Begg said: “Mr Cowen was of the view that by adjusting the parameters of the social partnership agreement, we could achieve the things we need to achieve in terms of getting the country into a position of minimising the impact of the recession and getting out of it as quickly as it was possible to do.”