AS HOUSEHOLDERS and businesses struggle to cope with the knock-on effects of flooding, freezing conditions and water shortages, the threat of disruption to public services by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions represents an unwelcome distraction. Worse than that, it devalues the huge contribution made recently by thousands of local authority and front-line workers in keeping main roads open, helping farmers and providing emergency services.
Having failed to ward off pay cuts in the Budget by offering 12 unpaid leave days as an alternative, the public services committee of congress appears determined to implement its pre-Budget threats. Members of that committee should be reminded of the law of holes; “when you are in one, stop digging”. They must be aware of the damage caused to their image last November when a one-day national strike coincided with a surge in cross-Border shopping. At this stage of economic uncertainty, actions that jeopardise a return to economic growth and the creation of employment will repel, rather than attract, public sympathy.
When a private sector company makes a loss and becomes insolvent, it goes out of business. People lose their jobs. Those rules don’t generally apply within the public service. Last year, when the State was practically overwhelmed by a €25 billion shortfall in revenue, its employees threatened strike action rather than accept pay cuts. Now, their various trade unions are planning to disrupt services to the general public, while protecting their members’ incomes. It is an untenable situation. But the congress committee insists it will press ahead until the Government reverses those pay cuts.
Union officials are behaving as if the financial crisis is over and we can return to the free-wheeling days of Bertie Ahern. Nothing is further from the truth. The last Budget represented the start, rather than the end, of fiscal retrenchment. We have been living beyond our means, sustained by a property bubble that has burst with the most malign consequences. There is a price to be paid and it must be shared equitably.
Strikes, works-to-rule and disruption of services – including hospitals – may help to insulate trade unions from the anger of their members. But they are no substitute for creative involvement and they damage the common good. Reform of outmoded and inefficient work practices, offered by union officials as an alternative to pay cuts, shows what can and must be done to improve productivity. It is time for a reality check.