The vulnerability of weaker sections of society becomes obvious in times of recession. Already it is clear that those who can least afford further income reductions will be asked once again to ‘share the pain’ in December. It is clear however, that sharing - in the eyes of the Government - is a fundamentally unequal [...]

The future prospects of “social partnership” remain uncertain. Two decades of boom an accommodation towards co-operative union-management relations have created a union movement institutionalised in the partnership milieu and evidently uncomfortable with, or perhaps sceptical of, the possibilities for an alternative, mobilisation strategy.
It could still be possible that a national-level social partnership regime may be [...]

Over on Ireland After NAMA Proinnsias Breathnach has provided the final instalment of his highly informative three part study of Ireland’s export competitiveness. He also provides a summary of the points in each paper and conclusions reached, which gives the gist in case you don’t have time to read all of them. I’ve added this [...]

Monday night’s Frontline discussion was an object lesson in how to miss the point - a really big point in a really big way. In discussing spending cuts we were treated to all sorts of suggestions - from getting rid of Minister’s drivers to shaving departmental estimates; all with a view to saving a few [...]

In a previous post we saw that public sector labour costs are below-average by EU-15 standards. The argument that Irish public sector workers are ‘over-paid’ in relation to their European counterparts holds no water whatsoever. However, that doesn’t answer the charge that, regardless of comparative costs, we just have to cut public sector wages because [...]

Ireland after NAMA has an interesting blog post which links to Ronan Lyons assumptions about whether those running NAMA have got their assumptions right with regard to the “fall from peak to time-of-tranfer, the yield, and how yields might correct”. The writer goes on to say that “given the drop in land values, the oversupply [...]

With industrial action in the public sector ramping up a couple of notches, it is worth revisiting a couple of issues in relation to pay. A critical issue is the fiscal benefit or otherwise that accrues to the Exchequer from cutting public sector wages - I will examine this in the next post. Here, let’s [...]

Profitable companies are using the current economic crisis to weaken terms and conditions of employment and drive down wages of some of the countries lowest paid workers according to a new report published by Mandate.
‘Milking The Recession‘, launched by the retail sector trade union earlier this month claims that there is “an aggressive and determined” [...]

The latest CSO figures showing a decrease in the cost of living have prompted employer groups to renew calls for a decrease in the minimum wage. However, on closer examination, the CPI reveals several increased costs which, combined with welfare cuts, push many people further into poverty.
The cost of living has decreased by 3.9% from [...]

Yesterday evening I was on Matt Cooper’s The Last Word (5:00 segment) with a representative from IBEC discussing wage levels. I quoted the numbers from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Eurostat and Destatis (German Statistical Board) to show that Irish labour costs are not high; indeed, they’re rather low by comparison with our EU [...]