Thank you, Sir, for having given me the opportunity to raise this important issue. Earlier this week, the two major public service unions issued strike notice on the Government to expire later this month. Everybody will be aware that Dublin is suffering from a lengthy transport dispute. Now this new and greater threat to our public services is gathering momentum. The CPSU and IMPACT will begin their joint industrial action with a one-day strike on 28 June which they propose to escalate over the following weeks into full-scale strike action, if necessary. Almost every public service, including Government Departments, employment exchanges, the courts, the Dáil, health services and air traffic control would be affected.
This is an appalling prospect. The reason I raise it is to ask the Minister of State to say what is being done to avert this strike. Clearly it would be a disaster if it were allowed to come to that. It occurs at a time when relations with the public service unions have been very badly soured by the imposition of the 1 per cent employment levy and the welfare cuts which have not been reversed in full, as the unions had been led to expect by the incoming Government, particularly by the Labour Party element in that Government. That souring of the atmosphere is a critical element in this dispute.
Apart from the developments to which I have referred there seem to be two major issues to be negotiated. One is the failure to appoint an arbitrator. I am aware that all Governments, for quite some time past, have experienced difficulty with the arbitration system, its knock-on effects and the relativity awards arising therefrom. Running away from a problem will not solve it. Failure to fill such an important position leaves an industrial relations gap. It should be dealt with head-on, in discussion, if the Government has a difficulty about this appointment. The unions have a difficulty in relation to the honouring of what they see as commitments in the programme in relation to pay.
I should like the Minister to inform the House what efforts are being made to resolve these issues. Not only will industrial peace for the foreseeable weeks and months be put in question, but the whole process of national agreements, of which I am an enthusiastic supporter, will come into question. In addition to disappointments in relation to the budget, if the last months of this agreement are marked by industrial relations problems of this kind it bodes ill for the prospect of any new agreement. It is my belief that the next will be one of the most critical agreements for this country within the context of achieving a serious national effort on employment, which will require the active co-operation of the unions, and some sacrifices. It may be an agreement such as we have never seen before, with fewer conceessions in the pay area, more reforms in social welfare and perhaps more concentration on the creation of extra employment in the public service. It will be crticial to the future of this country to have such an agreement in place.
In addition to the likely disastrous impact of an industrial dispute in terms of loss of public services it will be extremely difficult to retrieve relations with the unions to such an extent that they would be enthusiastic about or willing to enter into a further agreement.
I hope the Minister of State will be able to reassure us that serious efforts are being made to resolve issues which have such threatening consequences for our people by the total withdrawal of many of the public services on which so many people depend.
