Economic Policy

The Irish economies in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are entering into an extended period of stagnation. This is the result of the current austerity policies of the Fine Gael/Labour Government in the Republic and the Conservative/Lib Dem policies in Northern Ireland. High unemployment, wage devaluation, regressive taxation, ineffective labour market policies, reduction in public sector employment, high rents and low investment levels, along with rising poverty and deprivation levels, are crippling the economies ability to grow out of the crisis created by speculative finance and European banking institutions. The austerity policies being pursued in both the Dáil and the Westminster Parliament are neither inevitable nor rational; they are politica transferring wealth from labour to capital, and from working people to bondholders and creditors, corporations and financial institutions. Conference demands an end to austerity, and new policies that will promote economic growth, job creation, equality and the ending of poverty and deprivation of the most vulnerable people in our society. In particular a sustained and substantial programme of investment directed into the productive sectors of the economy. We cannot rely on private capital to generate the investment needed in the areas of greatest common benefit. Such a programme must be driven by a State investment programme, augmented by a democratic direction of private capital where appropriate a major redistribution of resources from high income to low income groups that will boost domestic demand and raise the living standards for workers and their families. This not only calls for income redistribution but the building of a strong social insurance State through which workers can benefit from the collective consumption from expanded public goods and services such as health, education, pensions, housing and income supports, etc.; a concerted programme of public, local, community, worker-managed and public-private shared-equity enterprises should be launched, resourced by the State and local capital operating under democratic accountability. This would not crowd-out the private sector but crowd it in. This also requires increased opposition to the privatisation policies that are being driven by the Governments in Westminster and in the Republic; the rights of labour are an indispensable part of economic recovery. Increasing the minimum wage, living wage initiatives, strengthening sectoral-wide collective bargaining, transposing the EU Directive on the right to full-time work into law, and establishing labour-friendly flexibility in the workplace these initiatives have the capacity to transform lives and the economy as a whole. Of urgent concern is to introduce greater democracy through consultation to co-determination in the workplace where workers skills and experiences can be invested in to their benefit Conference calls on the incoming Executive to develop a concrete alternative incorporating the principles of investment, income redistribution, enhanced public sector, public enterprise and enhanced labour rights. Conference further calls on the incoming Executive to work in partnership with civil society groups and progressive organisations who share these principles in order to build a popular base for economic and social expansion. Conference has no confidence in the economic policies being pursued by the Governments in Dublin and London. They will only lead to stagnation, unemployment, poverty and despair. An alternative to these programmes is not only possible; it is an imperative for the trade union movement.