The general secretary of trade union Siptu has urged the Government to take steps to protect workers’ pension funds in the current economic crisis.
Speaking at the union’s south-west regional conference in Tralee tonight, Joe O’Flynn said it was “disgraceful” that ordinary workers contributing to their pension funds were facing the prospect of significantly reduced pensions, while the financial sector had been protected by the Government to the tune of €400 million.
“We are living in a very volatile and challenging economic period, not just here at home but worldwide, brought about by the greed of those in a golden circle who had little or no regard for the implications of their reckless and irresponsible actions,” Mr O’Flynn said.
At the same time, he said, “workers are witnessing the near collapse of their pension schemes with a massive reduction in equity, property and other returns which are undermining defined benefit pensions”.
“Worse still is the case of defined contributions schemes, where all of the risk is on the employees. Of course we haven’t seen any Government moves to assist these workers or to aid these schemes, which are in great difficulty.”
On the proposed new national pay agreement, Mr O’Flynn said he was satisfied that the terms agreed by the social partners were “the best available” and that “not a cent” was left behind on the negotiating table.
“Some members may feel they could do somewhat better in a ‘free-for-all’ but I believe that the majority of our members would certainly not do any better, with many in the weaker employments getting little or no increase in the present climate,” he said.
“So, when the detailed proposals are debated and considered, it is important that members weigh up all of the pros and cons of the proposal and decide whether six per cent over 21 months, or 6.5 per cent for the low paid, represents the best that is available.”
On the health service, Mr O’Flynn said he believed the Minister for Health had been “so preoccupied with the privatisation of the health service”, including the co-location policy that insufficient attention had been focused on resolving issues within it.
He called for an all-party approach to rebuilding health staff morale and public confidence in a service that was properly funded and resourced so that it could give people on low and middle incomes “the same chance to be seen as the wealthy”.
Siptu regional secretary Gene Mealy said the “catastrophic” collapse of financial markets in Wall Street and its knock-on effects in Ireland were “conclusive proof” that greed had been allowed to become “the cornerstone of our economic policy”.