THE GOVERNMENT and the social partners are "staring failure in the face" in their attempt to agree a recovery programme, one of the country's leading trade unionists has said.
Addressing Impact's biennial local government conference yesterday in Castlebar, Co Mayo, Impact general secretary Peter McLoone said he was not posturing but presenting an honest analysis of the "abyss we are now facing".
He said that next week the Government would have to deliver a response to proposals from the social partners for a unified response to the current crisis.
Mr McLoone, who is also chairman of the State training agency Fás, forecast that without an immediate intervention unemployment could reach 584,000 by Christmas.
He said the Government would need to provide a plausible response, not just rhetoric, to calls by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions for a €1 billion State investment in job creation and protection measures. The proposal has also been welcomed by employers' group Ibec.
He said the Government had to recognise that protecting jobs and creating new work opportunities had to be the priority. Government had to provide a credible response within the next week to prevent further losses of jobs.
Mr McLoone also said that if the social partners failed to reach an agreement or if the Government and employers continued to seek to impose cuts, even as talks were under way, "participation in negotiations will not stop public sector unions from taking industrial action if this is necessary to protect jobs, pay, pensions, and services".
Mr McLoone said Impact would not accept any agreement that did not protect members' pay levels, pension arrangements - including the tax-free status of retirement lump sums - or provide for an agreed framework for public service employment levels and promotions. "Treat us with respect and you will discover real partners in change - indeed in my experience you will discover dedicated people who are hungry for change," he said.
"But if you continue to attack our work, our pay, our jobs and the services you provide - you will meet nothing but resistance."
Mr McLoone also strongly rejected suggestions that public servants were overpaid. He said that of the 310,000 on the State payroll, 255,000 were on salaries below a maximum of €60,000 per year.
He said that of that 255,000, 55,000 received less than €30,000 per year, while 126,000 were paid between €40,000 and €60,000 annually.
