Congress Submits New Job and Skills Proposals to Government
5 May 2011
Congress has submitted new proposals to Government calling for an overhaul of the national skills and training system, investment in key infrastructural projects to build competitiveness and the harnessing of semi-state expertise to aid job creation and growth.
The proposals have been sent to Government ahead of next week's expected Jobs Initiative. In a letter to Taoiseach Enda Kenny, Congress General Secretary David Begg said: "Growth in domestic demand is essential to job creation. To get growth we need investment and therefore our proposals are more urgent and relevant, now more than ever."
The proposals envisage a complete overhaul of the skills and training system, with the creation of a new training agency that would focus on work-based training and would identify where future skills deficits might arise.
It would also see the creation of a new fund to finance upskilling of the workforce as "one of the surest forms of insurance against unemployment." This would be done by diverting a portion of the existing National Training Fund to individual and collective upskilling.
The skills initiatives are outlined in a new Congress report: A New Skills Policy for a New Economy.
The Congress job creation proposals submitted to Government also envisage harnessing the expertise and resources of the semi-states in the delivery of "labour intensive infrastructural projects."
According to Congress General Secretary David Begg this would be "the best way of getting early results on employment" particularly as semi-state companies have the capacity to finance projects themselves.
"These companies already have financial strength, management capacity, geographic spread, administrative infrastructure and the procurement capability to move quickly," Mr Begg said.
The Congress proposals envisage semi-state involvement in 'big ticket' projects such as a national Water & Waste system and delivery of a Next Generation Broadband system across the country, which could greatly assist Ireland's competitiveness.
Congress has also urged the use of Labour and Social Clauses in all public contracts, with the specific aim of maximising the "employment and skills impact" of such projects.
Labour and Social Clauses can set specific targets for local employment, the provision of training or the purchase of goods from local suppliers. The clauses are being used increasingly across the EU to ensure a better 'social return' from public monies and the spend on infrastructure projects.
The Congress proposals also set out terms for properly-structured and genuine Internship and Work Experience programmes.
The proposals make clear that such programmes "can be of great benefit to people starting out on their career and as a way for unemployed people to maintain their skills," but insist they must be properly monitored and not used as a form of cheap labour.
