Blinkers and brinkmanship
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WHEN immovable objects encounter irresistible forces, progress is an unlikely outcome. The current stand-off between the Government and the unions is a case in point. There is merit on both sides and each have argued their positions coherently.
In the public service there is understandable resentment: the sector has borne the brunt of biting cuts, and has been scapegoated and stereotyped unfairly in some quarters.
When it suited ministers to pack the sector with staff and to ramp up wages irresponsibly for short-term electoral gain, they did so with abandon.
Now the cupboard is bare and severe corrective action is being taken. Civil servants have won little sympathy for their plight even though they did not create the bulge in the sector. It is understandable that union leaders find the censorious and dismissive tone adopted by the Government a little grating. However, we are where we are.
A small degree of flexibility could be enough to avoid breaking point.
Talk of industrial armageddon; escalation of strike action, closure of schools and hospital wards, will not help anyone's case.
Incoming secretary general of the INTO Sheila Nunan said the increased action could include half-day or full-day closures on a regional or rolling basis.
ICTU's Public Services Committee chairman Peter McLoone maintains that the purpose of such action is to achieve a negotiated solution to reverse pay cuts, protect future pay and pensions and to avoid compulsory redundancies.
All things being equal, one might appreciate his arguments. Unfortunately, all things are far from being equal. We are in the worst financial crisis in our history and the painful realities we confront will not disappear. Over-amplification of grievances on both sides has not improved matters.
But Mr McLoone is absolutely correct in holding out for a negotiated settlement.
It is critical that the Government summons sufficient authority and resolve to put together some credible proposals to pull the situation back from the brink.
With almost half a million people on the dole, and 60,000 of our finest young people being forced overseas to find work, we need to find grounds for agreement instead of opening up further divisions.
Irish Independent
