Unite calls for government to act now to stop haemorrhage of jobs
5th March 2009
The Unite trade union has called on the government to introduce
job protection measures after being briefed on the economy by
officials from the department of the Taoiseach and the department
of finance this morning.
“The public finances are getting worse but we will not get
through this merely by raising tax and cutting expenditure,” said
Unite national officer Jerry Shanahan. “Both measures take money
out of the economy. They reduce spending, they reduce confidence
and they reduce tax receipts. The only thing will definitely
increase is the long term deficit.”
“Every job which is lost has a huge human cost. At an average
wage it also has a minimum direct hit to the public purse of
€20,000. This is made up of €12,000 in social security payment and
€8,000 in lost tax revenue. On top of this you have the loss of
money being spent throughout the economy which only speeds up the
decline. The first two months of the year have seen an increase in
unemployment of over 50,000. This increases the financial deficit
by €1 billion and will create a skills gap from which we will take
years to recover.”
“Government has to act with strong positive measures to ensure
job protection and stop the haemorrhaging of jobs across all
sectors.”
“From today government needs to utilise all of the state
agencies to identify those sustainable jobs that are in clear and
present danger. It needs to provide whatever support is possible
and viable in order to protect employment, avoid rapid
deterioration of the public finances and save the country from a
fate which is worse than we can even now envisage.”
ENDS
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