SIPTU says situation could 'escalate dramatically'

SIPTU General President Jack O’Connor has warned that unless the Government, employers and the financial elite are prepared to face up to the need for a Social Solidarity Pact, rather than expect PAYE workers to pay for the current crisis “there is every possibility the situation will escalate dramatically out of control” within a matter of weeks.

He was “dismayed at the Goodbody report today proposing welfare cuts to reduce public expenditure levels. It is appalling that people threatened with unemployment, and in many cases with the loss of their homes and occupational pension entitlements as well, can expect nothing better from the elite of the financial services industry than the suggestion that their meagre social welfare benefit may be reduced; and all this while not one additional cent has been raised from the wealthy in our society.

“At the very least the big players in the financial services industry, which played a key role in creating the global crisis, should have the decency to refrain from commenting and frightening people. It is precisely this reign of psychological terror waged on PAYE workers that has contributed so much to undermining consumer confidence which, according to Goodbody’s, will result in the economy contracting by six per cent this year.

“It is now past time that those at the top in our society, be they Government, employers or the elite in the financial services industry face up to the reality that the only prospect of navigating our way out of this debacle is that offered by a Social Solidarity Pact to which all sectors of society contribute in accordance to their capacity. It is neither equitable nor financially sustainable to place the entire burden on the PAYE sector, including those joining the ranks of the unemployed.

“Unless the concept of a pact is grasped within the next few days, and certainly at the latest within a few weeks, there is every possibility that the situation will escalate dramatically out of control.”