A society divided - Denying our reality will lead to chaos

AS the bleakness of our situation becomes more apparent and, as the grim-reaper December budget creeps upon us, dangerous social polarisation gathers pace.

Yesterday three teachers’ unions confirmed their members had voted for strike action on Tuesday week. A fourth union earlier got a mandate to down tools.

On Thursday the Health Service Executive warned that the level of cover proposed by unions for November 24 was “totally unsatisfactory, and would pose a serious risk to patient care and safety on the day”.

As the unions prepare for their day of protest Eilis Quinlan, chairwoman of the Irish Small and Medium Enterprises’ Association called for social partnership to be replaced by a “national representation forum”.

“Public sector unions, have been allowed ride rough shod over the economy through the so-called partnership process ... This has led to a bloated public service, a luxury the country can no longer afford,” she said.

It would be foolish to assume Ms Quinlan speaks only for ISME. Her sentiments reflect what the great swathes of private sector workers whose conditions are set without reference to social partnership deals, think.

Equally, the response of public sector unions has been emphatic, 77% of second-level teachers voted to strike, primary school teachers by 79%. The “frontline” group is equally militant.

All of this hardening of positions is gaining destructive momentum and is set against a background where the usual rock-and-a-hard-place cliches seem pathetically inadequate to convey the terrible dilemma we all face.

On Thursday pre-Budget figures showed that half of the €4 billion spending cuts anticipated in next month’s budget will go towards interest payments on our €400m-plus a week debt habit. Next year one euro in every six collected by the taxman will go to international bankers through interest payments. We have not seen interest bills at this ratio for over a decade.

Against this background it is very hard to see, no matter how hard you try, no matter how determined you are to be objective, how public sector unions imagine that their conditions can be sustained. Do they suggest that taxes be increased so they can enjoy conditions far better than virtually all of their colleagues in the EU just as the private sector is decimated?

Do they suggest that those who depend on social welfare face even greater cuts than those already expected to safeguard their position?

Equally, ISME cannot expect that public sector workers be denied a forum to engage with their employers. Just because the social partnership’s performance was destroyed by the excesses of the Ahern catastrophe it does not mean that a new, disciplined structure, built on reality, might not contribute to reviving our fortunes.

In any event time is not on our side – public sector unions or ISME – and immediate and sweeping action is required before Christmas. It seems we have destroyed more than our economy; we may have destroyed our capacity to respond rationally to the dangers facing us all. Let us hope we can recover it before it is too late.