THE Taoiseach has criticised employers for "not being as advanced" as they should be on issues such as partnership and profit sharing. Mr Bruton also said the Government would look favourably at proposals from unions in Telecom Eireann to seek a larger share holding than the 5 per cent proposed as part of the strategic alliance for the company.
Mr Bruton used the opportunity of the IMPACT conference in Ennis to reaffirm the Government's commitment to centralised wage bargaining and the "partnership" approach to industrial relations.
He paid tribute to IMPACT and outgoing general secretary, Mr Phil Flynn, in forging national agreements over the past 10 years.
It was his strongest endorsement of "social partnership" since addressing the Irish Congress of Trade Unions last July. It was there he first declared himself a convert to the concept and his remarks yesterday can be seen as part of the Government campaign to woo trade unions into a successor to the Programme for Competitiveness and Work.
National agreements were described by Mr Bruton as "key social institutions" in creating Ireland's outstanding economic performance. The State had adapted successfully to the challenges of the European Single Market in large part due to social partnership, he said.
There were new challenges being posed by European monetary union, but there was "no reason we cannot be as successful in dealing with them through the use of the same approach".
Asked if Irish employers had been slow to offer profit sharing schemes to employees, Mr Bruton said they "haven't been as advanced as I would like".
He pointed out that, as Minister for Finance in the early 1980s, he had introduced the first legislation on profit sharing. He described it as "a mechanism" that enabled employers to reward employees during boom conditions separately from rates struck in national pay deals. Similarly, in periods of recession, profit sharing schemes could help companies deal with the need for cuts without resorting to redundancies.
Responding to Mr Bruton, the incoming general secretary of IMPACT, Mr Peter McLoone, warned: "Irish social partnership cannot be taken for granted. A certain degree of complacency seemed to have set in which had contributed to the growing unrest in the public sector in recent months.
"Why, if the economy is growing, are the benefits not flowing back in equal measure to those who made the sacrifices? Not just in terms of personal gain but in a way that could demonstrate tangible evidence of a serious tackling of the agenda set by trade unionists," Mr McLoone asked.
Today, delegates will debate whether their union should support talks by the Irish trade union movement on a new national agreement. A position paper presented to the delegates yesterday argues strongly, on balance, for a new agreement.