REDUCING the EU's 18 million unemployment figure is crucial to the stability and prosperity of the Union, according to the ICTU.
Speaking to the Oireachtas European Affairs Committee yesterday, the ICTU's assistant general secretary, Ms Patricia O'Donovan, said that Ireland's Presidency of the EU coupled with the State's chairing of the EU's Inter Governmental Conference presented "a unique opportunity to put employment at the top of the European agenda".
This would be particularly appropriate for Ireland, given that it have one of the highest unemployment levels in Europe, she said.
Delegations from the ICTU and the employers' organisation IBEC made submissions to the committee yesterday on employment in the EU. The Government has pledged that the issue will be one of its priorities during the six month Irish EU presidency which begins on July 1st.
"It is difficult to see how European integration can be progressed without taking effective measures to deal with the major economic and social implications of this high level of unemployment," according to the ICTU submission.
If confidence in and support for the EU is to be revived decisive action on employment, the social dimension and social rights of citizens must be taken. "These are the issues which the trade union movement at national and European level believe must be on the agenda of the IGC and also must be the priorities of the Irish Presidency," the ICTU said.
The ICTU called on the Government to maintain the momentum in the EU towards an "employment pact". In consultation with trade unions and employers' organisations, the Government should bring forward specific commitments and practical measures to implement such a pact.
But while the ICTU emphasised its wish to increase the social rights of workers and citizens, IBEC stressed its desire to increase the competitiveness of Irish industry.
"Wage moderation is a vital component of competitiveness," according to its submission, and measures to generate employment would fail unless they were underpinned by a focus on competitiveness.
IBEC also stressed the control of public spending, reductions in taxes on employment, increasing the incentive to work and the provision of education and training as necessary to increase employment. On the proposal for a European "employment pact", Mr Brian Geoghegan of IBEC told the committee he would be "skeptical" unless it involved a strong emphasis on increasing competitiveness.
. The Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed (INOU) should be allowed participate in the next national wage agreement, according to its representatives, who lobbied TDs and senators in Dublin yesterday.
"We are seeking the explicit support of every politician on our claim to be a central part in negotiating the next national agreement," Mr Paul Billings, the INOU chairman, said.