IF trade unionists reject national agreements and pursue sectional interests they will suffer because they will leave the economy's direction to others, according to the Minister for Finance.
Modern unions needed to make their enterprises and economies more competitive, Mr Quinn said.
In his address to the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers' conference yesterday, he renewed his plea for an agreement to succeed the Programme for Competitiveness and Work. PCW benefits included a 10 per cent growth in employment, a rise in the value of take home pay, a 10 per cent increase in the value of social services and keeping inflation at 2.4 per cent.
"These are the concrete benefits which all sections of the community have enjoyed," he said. "As well as the benefits which individual union members have received under the programme, the trade union movement as a whole has benefited from having a direct input into the determination of national economic policy, representing both their members and the less well off in society."
These were times of major change for the unions. "The traditional stereotypical role of confrontation with employers and resistance to change is no longer viable in today's competitive environment. Throughout Europe trade unions are playing a new and dynamic partnership role in the revitalisation of enterprises by improving competitiveness and also enhancing the quality of work for their members.
"The alternative position for the trade union movement, and one which may have its attractions in the short term, is to remain outside the system and to protest at what others are doing in managing our economy to pursue narrow sectional interests," he added.