Begg: Troika want to make Ireland economic laboratory
The general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions made his comments after Taoiseach Enda Kenny pointed out that the majority of the areas where there has been mass unemployment in recent years have their wages set by Joint Labour Committees.
Mr Kenny’s ministerial colleague Richard Bruton has yet to announce how JLCs are to be reformed, but Mr Kenny gave a clear indication of the route the Government is taking.
Speaking at ICTU’s biennial conference in Killarney, he said: “When it comes to the wage setting machinery of JLCs, employment regulation orders and registered employment agreements, the fact is that everyone has long accepted the need for change. The thrust of the reform agenda has to be to retain employment and create new jobs; 82% of the fall in employment in the first quarter ... was in retail, accommodation and hospitality sectors (which all have their wages set by JLCs),” said Mr Kenny.
“While demand in these sectors is clearly a key factor, labour costs represent a relatively high proportion of total output costs in these locally traded sectors.”
In his riposte, David Begg said, when it came to reform as a means of escaping crisis, reform always focused on the little people.
“That is why we feel so strongly about the JLC issue. It is the little people who are affected. I know you are not an entirely free agent on this. You have to deal with the troika in terms of how this is handled. We have met the troika a few times. The troika want to make Ireland an economic laboratory. Something they can do to test out their labour market policies without causing any difficulties (elsewhere).”
He said there was no economic or fiscal reason served by making changes to the incomes of people.
“I think at the end of the day policy making should be evidence-based and the evidence in this case is all completely against it,” he said, pointing out reports carried out by numerous bodies had concluded “reducing the wages of these people will not create one more job”.
“It seems incomprehensible that any government would wish to pursue that pattern any further.”
