469 / 736
N.I.E.C. could not effectively carry the discussion
of farmers' incomes further than this. It hoped,
however,
that
this deficiency would
soon be
remedied.
The report showed that if the position of lower-
income workers were
to be
improved, other
workers would have to accept increases less than
justified by the rise in national production.
"The effectiveness of incomes and prices will
depend", it said "on the percentage increase in
aggregate money incomes being so related to the
percentage increase in national production that
competitiveness is not endangered. It follows that
if some groups get a percentage increase higher
than this, others must accept a lower percentage
increase. If they do not, then the rise in total
money incomes will be excessive.
"This principle is particularly relevant where
efforts are directed to raising the relative position
of low-income groups in the community.
By
definition, the increase for these groups must be
greater than
the national average in order to
improve their relative position and other groups
must accept
a.
smaller increase".
More productivity
If the pay of low-paid workers was to be raised
to the socially desirable level, intensive efforts were
needed to raise the productivity of the enterprises
in which they were employed or to offer them
opportunities to transfer to enterprises which were
more productive.
In addition to wage increases, family allowances
and other re-distributive measures were relevant
to the improvement of the position of low-paid
workers. The improvement in children's allow
ances initiated in the last Budget was both rele
vant and welcome.
"We would hope," the report said, "that there
is general acceptance in the community of the
desirability of raising the standards of low-income
groups to a level in keeping with present-day
needs and this should be seen to be one of the
objectives of an incomes and prices policy".
The Federation of Irish Industries, the report
said, was dissatisfied with the present price control
by the Department of Industry and Commerce
and was concerned that price control might be
come "profit control." The F.U.E. held that it was
hard to justify interference with either prices or
profits in areas where full competition existed.
In the N.LE.C.'s view the need was to concen
trate attention mainly on areas where competition
was imperfect or non-existent and on ensuring
that price surveillance had the appropriate cover
age.
F.U.E. addendum
The three representatives of the F.U.E. on the
N.I.E.C., Mr. P. H. Gree, Mr. Charles R. Cuffe,
and Mr. Daniel McAuley, stated in an addendum
that they considered that the proposals in the
report would make a greater contribution to the
over-all objective of achieving a closer relationship
between the growth in money incomes and the
growth in output if they were accompanied by
arrangements which would assist in containing
industrial relations matters.
They said they were conscious of the views of
trade unions on such questions as intervention by
the State in collective bargaining, statutory wage
controls and compulsory arbitration. They respect
ed these views and to some extent snared the
concern of those who expressed reservations about
the value of legislation and legal sanctions in in
dustrial relations matters.
They believed, therefore, that the viability of an
incomes and prices policy on a purely voluntary
basis would ultimately depend on the willingness
of the parties engaged on collective bargaining to
renounce force as a means of securing short-term
sectional advantages.
The work of the N.I.E.C. in enunciating guide
lines for money incomes, the task of the new
employer-employee
body
in
translating
these
guide-lines into terms which would be operation
ally useful in collective bargaining and the investi
gations and findings of the Labour Court would
be of considerably greater value and significance if
there was a commitment by both sides of industry
to use only peaceful methods for resolving indus
trial disputes, the F.U.E. representative said.
They considered that such a national commit
ment should be made, limited if necessary to a
specified period, so that the present inflationary
pressures in the economy, to the extent to which
they were generated by excessive
increases
in
money incomes, could be reduced.
A statement issued by the Federated Union of
Employers welcomed the proposal that the State
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