The Frontline: Jack O'Connor on "wage moderation" without pay cuts

Pat Kenny grills President of ICTU, Jack O'Connor, on the trade union's proposal document 'A Better Fairer Deal' and how likely it is that reductions can be achieved in the public sector without cutting pay rates or jobs. http://www.rte.ie/player or http://www.rte.ie/news/thefrontline/

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News & Politics

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• pay cuts
• public service
• jack O'Connor
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• frontline
• pat kenny

[LarryFogarty]

hang your head in shame o connor.......i would not let you negotiate the sale of a goldfish ......jim larkin would turn in his grave........your more interested in saveing face....and your big salarey

[stpd1957]

Oh save us from these clowns

[unionmember1913]

@phoniex09 WTF are u on about??

[DJSpinoza]

Can we save some money by getting rid of Pat Kenny, he is a desperately poor interviewer. I hope RTE the public service broadcaster isn't censoring public comments on you tube.

[phoniex09]

this excuse for a person and his union buddies have ring fenced 10 BILLION of the 14 BILLION hse budget leaving the govt 4 BILLION to work with he and his sheep are all robbing scumbags

[bansheewhiskey]

youre all jokes.

[PlasteringKing101]

sdcf

[deepfriedscrotum1]

No, no, JOC is/was very wrong. Do the sums - we need cuts, between public sector pay and social welfare, that's roughly 70% of the budget. Where do we get the money? Cost of living has gone down 6% bear in mind, so a 3% cut in Soc Welfare is still a net gain for those on the dole. Also, at the height of the boom, on average, public sector workers were paid 25% more than private sector workers. You think that's fair? After all, you union fellas are always on about fairness....

[deepfriedscrotum1]

The Americans employed us because we were part of the EU - access to the European market, amongst other things. I think countries like Zimbabwe, Iran, Afghanistan, Russia, Morocco, Sierra Leone, Colombia, DR Congo, Sudan, North Korea etc would beat us on corruption standards my friend, in fact I think a recent international study found we were one of the least corrupt in the world. Nice reasoning.

[deepfriedscrotum1]

I think the "working people" would be better off working in a secure job, would you not think? All these (obligatory) benefits that we get drive up labour costs, which makes it unattractive for an employer to employ an Irish person - we're too damned expensive. By that logic, I think a paradox arises - Trade Unions are for workers, yet against jobs, no? They sure do behave that way.

[deepfriedscrotum1]

No, actually the converse is true. If we stay with wages that are simply too high (bear in mind other countries' wage costs [lower], deflation over the last year [6%], as well as the overly-generous T2016 agreement) foreign employers will not set up business here and the ones here will leave for cheaper countries e.g. the UK, Poland or most other places really. That means less jobs. So actually, if the Unions succeed, to use your words, "there is no hope for anybody working in this country".