Pay talks Collapse; Irish Exporters Association call for no Knee jerk reactions.

The IEA as part of the employers group who signed up to the Towards 2016 Social Partnership Agreement , today accepted that the mandated negotiators despite investing extensive time and effort trying to agree a pay clause for the next 18 months , had failed to bridge the gap in expectations.

IEA chief executive John Whelan stated;

‘’Exporters are under enormous competitive pressure in 2008, and are obliged to vigorously tackle costs as part of the market retention as well as the business survival plan .

Exporters are fully aware that competitiveness is a broad concept which clearly extends beyond both wage and exchange rate trends . However, the harsh reality is we have been paying ourselves above that of our competitors in Europe for some time and we must now make the necessary adjustment if we are to retain our export sales .’’

‘’Inflationary cost increases has been a problem for the past number of years in Ireland and have eroded our competitive position . In prior years , a combination of rapid growth in global trade , productivity gains and currency advantage ,have cloaked the excessive cost base increases. We have now moved into tougher global market conditions and must take the necessary unsavory medicine . Costs must be tackled and inflation brought down if we are to regain some of our lost competitiveness’’

He concluded by saying;

‘’The Partnership process can still deliver on this lost competitiveness, so lets not have any knee jerk reactions , and not have any immediate local wage claims put on local employers.’’

‘’The Partnership process has been very effective for many years in meeting the changing needs of all the Social partners , and after a period of reflection , the IEA look forward to a further attempt to bridge the gap between the employers and union aspirations in late August early September ‘’

‘’Meanwhile , the IEA are advising it’s members not to engage in any local bargaining until all avenues to reach a new national agreement are exhausted’’

END