Union representatives warned of the possibility of industrial action if workers’ concerns are not listened to and accused the Government of prioritising business interests over workers’ living standards.
The remarks from Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) general secretary Owen Reidy came as the Labour Employer Economic Forum (LEEF) met on Friday.
The forum includes senior Government figures including Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Simon Harris, as well as employer and worker representative organisations.
The meeting was held against the backdrop of the ongoing energy crisis and pressure on households and businesses and with a new round of public pay talks with unions just weeks away as current deal expires in June.
Earlier in the week Reidy warned that the €505 million package of fuel supports announced in the wake of last week’s protests and blockades by farmers and hauliers will be will be factored into pay negotiations across all sectors of the economy in the next year.
Reidy spoke to reporters in advance of Friday’s LEEF meeting and RTÉ reported that he said: “if Government doesn’t listen to organised labour at this time, with this crisis, particularly after what happened last week, strike action is probably inevitable as a result of that.”
Also speaking before the meeting Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke insisted that the package of fuel support measures benefited workers as well as industry highlighting the excise cuts to petrol and diesel and saying “70 per cent of the intervention benefits all citizens directly at the pumps”. He also said the Government cannot “eliminate all the impact of this international crisis” but it can “mitigate” and “cushion some of the blows.”
After the meeting Reidy said: “Our message to the Government today was clear: stop caving in to business demands at the expense of workers’ living standards.”
He said: “People are being squeezed on every front and these costs are hitting workers in their pockets every single week” and argued “when the Government is presented with a choice between supporting those workers or responding to the demands of those who shout the loudest, it has consistently chosen the latter.”
Reidy said Ictu put it to Government that “this approach is neither sustainable nor acceptable.”
He also said tax relief for workers and meaningful reductions in the cost of public transport and other services are among measures that “would make a tangible difference to millions of workers and their families.”
He added: “We sought from Government and it was agreed to now enter into intense discussions on the trade union agenda on the cost of living.”
A Government statement said the LEEF has agreed to “an intensive process of dialogue on current challenges” to energy security, affordability, and broader economic resilience.
Minster for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers described the LEEF meeting as a “really positive and constructive engagement” and said there was to be a new labour and economic resilience forum within the LEEF structure.
In response to union concerns, Chambers said the Government has provided “universal measures for workers in the context of the reductions in excise, which have benefited every worker in the economy, the extension of fuel allowance which benefits low-income households in particular, and many workers as well.” He added: “We want to work with the trade union movement.”
Chambers also said the Government hopes to start the next public sector pay talks within weeks with a view to bringing “industrial peace and stability over the next number of years particularly in light of the wider economic uncertainty”.
