The tax debate is over and the Government has accepted that the next Budget must target improvements in taxation at low to middle income-earners, the SIPTU president said last night.
"As a result of our campaign the tide has turned and the Taoiseach, the Tanaiste and the Minister for Finance have all recognised that in the next Budget in December tax improvements will have to be directed at those on low to middle incomes," Mr Jimmy Somers told the conference.
He warned that agreement on long-term tax reforms and union recognition would be the key issues in determining whether there would be a successor to Partnership 2000, rather than issues such as public sector pay. Mr Somers said social inclusion and a better deal for workers in the private sector were also important issues for trade unionists.
There had been significant progress on gain-sharing arrangements, with 30 per cent of SIPTU members now involved in such schemes and securing significant benefits, over and above the pay rises secured in national agreements.
The SIPTU regional secretary, Mr Jack Nash, said a recent survey showed that job security was the primary concern of workers, followed by wages and conditions of employment. The trade unions had acted as "a counter-balance to the worst excesses of capital and unscrupulous employers in Irish society".
Unions had to adapt to the fast-changing world of work and the best way to predict the future was to create it, he said.
The president of the Dublin Council of Trade Unions, Mr Des Bonass, told the conference that SIPTU had played a leading role in the fight for trade union rights in Dublin, including the DCTU's own minimum-wage campaign. "There can be no place within our society for employers paying wages of £2.50p to £3.50p an hour, or even less," he said.
