The general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) has this morning called on the Government to accept a three-year agreement on tackling the economic crisis and avert the "default option" of a national strike.
David Begg said Ictu would offer the Government a three-year agreement with the unions based on the ten-point plan published before last Saturday's rally.
This, he said, had the potential to send a "very powerful signal internationally" to say Ireland was dealing with economic crisis.
Speaking on Morning Ireland, Mr Begg said if that failed, Ictu would be a "very bad space" where there would be "very little alternative but to try to defend pay and conditions in the traditional way," adding this was not the preferred option.
He said Ictu was making the offer of the three-year agreement "from a position of strength" following the massive demonstration on Saturday. The Ictu leader said a national strike was a "default mechanism" due to the lack of collective agreement over workers' pay and conditions.
Mr Begg said the Government had to change but not eliminate the pension levy. "I think most people seem to recognise . . . that the levy as it is currently constructed is unfair on the lower and middle-income group of workers . . . there are many anomalies and unfairnesses in that system which I think can be ironed out.
He also called for the Government to fill in the gap left in the State's tax base after the collapse of construction-related tax income. "For some reason, the Government up to now has been very reluctant to go into the area of revenue-raising."
Unions are to ballot members for a campaign of industrial action beginning with a one-day strike at the end of March.
The strikes would take place across the public sector and in significant parts of the private sector where employers have not paid the national wage deal agreed last year or negotiated an alternative.
Employers’ group Ibec last night said that it was ready to engage with Government and the Ictu on a proposal to bring stability to the public finances, address the banking crisis and put in place supports for enterprise which underpin employment. However, it expressed disappointment at the prospect of strike action which it said would “undermine the national interest”.
If supported in the ballots, the first strike would take place on March 30th and would be likely to close Government offices and agencies and affect schools and other State services. Union leaders said that essential services such as hospitals would be protected. The Ictu said that further strikes would follow if a pact with the Government was not secured.
The impact of any action in the private sector would depend on whether the national agreement terms had been met, the degree of unionisation in particular firms and ballot results.
The dispute could hit the building sector where feelings are running high over the move by the Construction Industry Federation (CIF) to seek a 10 per cent pay cut.
Mr Begg said that at present union members were not covered by a national pay agreement as the CIF did not enter into the deal.