TRADE UNION leaders will today begin two days of talks with senior civil servants to see how far the Government will go on measures for job-protection and creation, pension reform and assistance for people with mortgage arrears as part of an agreement on national recovery.
On the basis of the outcome of these meetings today and tomorrow, the national executive of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) will make a decision on Wednesday on whether it is worthwhile continuing with the talks on a national agreement.
Jack O’Connor, president of Siptu, the country’s largest union, said yesterday the meetings would allow union leaders get a sense of the potential of the situation.
He did not believe the Government would put specific proposals on the table at the meetings but signal what could potentially be agreed where there was agreement on all other matters.
The talks today will centre on a jobs initiative and on measures to protect the homes of people who have fallen into mortgage arrears.
The trade union movement is seeking a €1 billion State initiative to protect and create jobs – a plan broadly welcomed by the employer’s body Ibec. It is also looking for Government action to prevent home repossessions for two years after a borrower goes into arrears.
The unions are also seeking Government measures to underpin defined benefit pension schemes in the private sector which in most cases are facing difficulties.
Mr O’Connor said yesterday that at a meeting last week the Taoiseach had indicated the Government would be prepared to provide additional “underpinning measures” in cases where both companies and the associated pension schemes were insolvent.
However, Mr O’Connor said the unions would be arguing at the meeting on pensions tomorrow that such additional “underpinning” would not assist workers, for example, in the aircraft maintenance company SR Technics where the firm was not technically insolvent although it was ceasing trading in this country.
Meanwhile, another leading union leader, Peter McLoone of Impact, told members over the weekend the Taoiseach had said at the meeting last week that the Government was “willing to explore the possibility of an agreement on pay and related matters in the public service”.
In a letter to members Mr McLoone said the Taoiseach had not ruled out the possibility of an agreement that contained guarantees in this area sought by the union.
Impact is seeking guarantees that there would be no cuts in public service pay or in the value of pensions, including the current tax-free status of retirement lump sums. It is also looking for an agreed framework to deal with public service employment issues.
However, Mr McLoone said the Taoiseach had maintained that such a deal would “only be possible as part of a comprehensive agreement that also included measures to radically improve flexibility, mobility, performance and best practice in the public service, with an agreed approach to the industrial relations issues that arise from such changes”.