A union representing 6,000 public-sector staff in Ireland has threatened to bring the country's public services "to a standstill" if ministers cut workers' salaries and welfare benefits in order to reduce Dublin's budget deficit.
Unite announced that it was "on a strike footing" as ministers prepared yesterday to unveil what was expected to be the toughest budget in living memory for working people.
The union vowed to "take any action it deems necessary" to oppose any reduction in wages in the budget.
And Unite confirmed that it had a mandate to take strike action against pay cuts that was supported by 73 per cent of its members.
The Fianna Fail-Green Party-Progressive Democrats government is expected to slash social welfare, including unemployment and child benefit payments, in a bid to make savings of £3.6 billion.
Hundreds of thousands of public and civil servants are bracing themselves for pay cuts ranging between around 4 per cent on the lowest wages and as much as 20 per cent for the best paid.
The exact details of the wage reductions will be pored over by public-sector unions, which have threatened long and sustained industrial action after talks broke down without agreement last week.
On Tuesday, Transport Minister Noel Dempsey reiterated the government mantra that no-one would escape unscathed from the cutbacks.
"Everybody has to take a hit," Mr Dempsey insisted.
He promised to "try and protect the vulnerable as much as we can," before adding: "We cannot say that anyone is going to escape."
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) has warned that the government's approach to cutting the deficit is "too brutal."
The ICTU has published its own strategy for bolstering public finances, under which the rich would shoulder a "fair share of the burden of fiscal adjustment" and people's homes would be protected from repossession.
It proposes that Dublin reduce unemployment by "interventions to keep people at work" and using a National Recovery Bond to fund infrastructure.
Congress has advised ministers to maintain social-welfare rates and devise a strategy to protect private-sector pensions.
ICTU general secretary David Begg said that the government must now "choose between continued deference to the very wealthy or genuine support for low to middle-income earners and the vulnerable in Irish society."
Mr Begg warned that a budget that undermined social solidarity would "in time be seen as catastrophic public-policy failure."
The ICTU pointed out that imposing cuts of some £3.6bn could cause a severe deflationary shock in the economy and cause a decade long downward spiral such as occurred in Japan in the 1990s.
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/content/view/full/84276
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