UNION REACTION:TRADE UNIONS responded angrily last night to the pension levy announced by Taoiseach Brian Cowen, claiming that it imposed a disproportionate burden on lower and middle-income workers.
A formal response to the levy and the other spending cuts outlined by Mr Cowen is expected to be issued by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions after a meeting of its public services committee today.
But the leader of the largest public sector union, Impact, indicated last night that unions could refuse an invitation to talks on implementation of the levy.
Mr Cowen said in the Dáil that the Government would be discussing the implementation of the measures outlined yesterday with the social partners.
Responding to this, Impact general secretary Peter McLoone said that his union was “not in the business of discussing pain for our members in the absence of a contribution from business and the wealthy.
“Any discussions will only happen in the context of the framework document agreed by Government and Ibec last week,” he said.
The framework document, setting out proposals for economic recovery, had been agreed by the social partners as the basis for talks that broke down early yesterday.
After Mr Cowen subsequently announced in the Dáil that the Government would be going ahead with the levy on pensions, unions argued that the measure was unfair.
Impact said the failure to agree measures to protect lower-paid workers, or to get a bigger contribution from business and the better off, made the plan “extremely difficult” for ordinary workers to swallow.
Mr McLoone said that measures to achieve equality and fairness in dealing with the economic crisis, agreed by the Government and business in the framework document last week, were “almost entirely absent” from the plan.
“Workers are angry that the people who caused this mess have largely walked away scot-free, some of them underwritten by money taken out of the pockets of ordinary taxpayers, while workers in the public and private sector are being asked to pick up the tab,” he said.
Siptu president Jack O’Connor said that he regretted the failure to reach agreement on a social solidarity pact. It was still not too late to construct an agreement that genuinely addressed the challenges facing Ireland, and which was fair and reasonable to all, he said.
The Civil Public and Services Union, which represents lower-paid clerical workers, said the impact of the levy was disproportionate and had garnered an angry reaction from members.
Its general secretary Blair Horan said that the union executive would be considering the plan in the coming days and industrial action would be discussed.
Liam Doran, general secretary of the Irish Nurses’ Organisation, said the pensions levy would not be accepted by the union’s members and the Government would have to think again.
“Nobody wants to talk about industrial action, but we will not accept this inequitable levy,” he said.
Irish National Teachers’ Organisation general secretary John Carr said an opportunity to achieve fairness and equity in Irish society had been lost.
Organisations representing members of the Garda also criticised the measures. Garda Representative Association president Michael O’Boyce said many rank-and-file gardaí had short service and could not afford cuts in their incomes.
Speaking on RTÉ radio, Irish Congress of Trade Unions general secretary David Begg said that the measures were more onerous than workers would bear.
He said he believed that if unions had accepted the levy, workers “would have a revolution against them”.