Union bosses must accept Cowen’s right to act in interests of majority

WITH less than two weeks to go until budget day, it is disconcerting to see Taoiseach Brian Cowen waver in the face of union opposition to essential wage cuts.

After an extensive six-month study of all the facts related to our dire economic predicament, Bord Snip, headed by Colm McCarthy, produced an honest list of unpalatable, but necessary, recommendations for consideration by the Government. It would have been easy for the highly qualified members of that expert group to come up with a relatively benign report, as has sometimes been the case with other government initiatives, but McCarthy pulled no punches.

His thorough and comprehensive report left little doubt about what needs to be done. For this, he was subjected to unfair criticism by irate union leaders and even by senior figures in the Government that appointed him.