Stalin’s order 227 Stalingrad November 1942 uses the type of language tearaway union chiefs will understand. Ni Shagu Nazad – ‘Not a Step Back’ must become our catch cry if we are to win the next battle in our struggle for economic recovery and independence. Tearaway chiefs are laying siege to our economy with demands that cannot be met under any circumstances.

Get this right; the fast ballooning annual national deficit, not NAMA or bank recapitalisation which are both asset-backed projects, remains the single biggest threat we face. Watch what happens next to Greece because it is close to the tipping point, a death spiral of shrinking taxes, ballooning deficits and unaffordable interest repayments.

Tearaway unions who reject the peace deal are demanding we follow Greece and borrow more so they, uniquely, can recapture the Tiger years. That’s when public sector pay with no risk jobs for life paid 25% more than equivalent pay in the rest of the economy. Don’t be fooled by the guff from the cult.

• Deduct the pension levy and the December pay cuts,
• Add back tax relief on the levy and annual increments,
• Compare it to shrunken pay in the private sector, and
• The huge wealth transfer from private to public remains unchanged.

And it has become a cult. Listen closely to the beliefs. They think they are special, they think they are victims, they think they’re carrying us. They hide behind low paid workers, the old don’t-hit-me-while-I’m holding-the-baby tactic, they hide behind Anglo Irish, they hide behind colleagues who bought at the top of the property market, they hide behind just about anything to avoid facing their responsibilities and the truth.

Ni Shagu Nazad – Not A Step Back. These tearaway unions must be told we’ve had enough. Strike and be damned. Nearly half the 430,000 on the live register will shortly face tight-fisted means tests after which many will get little or nothing from the State. When they see public sector workers wave placards that translate into further cuts in their benefits to pay for their privileges, what kind of reaction will they face? When the heart and lungs of any recovery, private workers and business owners hear demands for tax rates at insane levels, what do you think they’ll do, go the extra yard so two thirds of it will be robbed to restore public sector pay to 2008 levels?

Ni Shagu Nazad – Not A Step Back. Tell the tearaways:

• We’re not afraid. Strike and we’ll close down your pay. You can fund your mortgages from your savings and get a taste of life in the private sector for a while.
• Pain works both ways. Cut off the life blood to tearaway unions by cancelling payroll deduction for subs. Let them chase their striking members for standing orders.
• Alert Irish Government bond investors that we’re gearing up for a conflict to protect our creditworthiness. They’ll applaud.
• The longer the strikes go on the more we’ll save. Ignore the poppycock about damage to the economy. The real economy will function just fine and the strikes will only last as long as the first mortgage direct debits fail.
• Cut pay again in Autumn budget if they strike and tell them excess jobs will be made redundant.