Is the pandemic our ‘1945 moment’?
 

Fórsa General Secretary Kevin Callinan and SIPTU general secretary Joe Cunningham penned a joint article in the Irish Times this week, in which they argued for a fundamentally different approach to economic reconstruction to that adopted during the 2008-2010 banking crisis.

 

The leaders of Ireland’s two largest unions argued that the crisis has demonstrated what can be achieved when the State mobilises financial, organisational and human resources for the common good, when people work together collectively, and when citizens have equal access to essential goods and services.

 

“The next challenge will be to embed these principles into our economic, social and business model on the other side of the emergency. Once the health crisis abates, the priority will be to kick-start our economies and maintain living standards, not to classify and pay back debt.

 

“There are strong reasons to believe that we may be experiencing a ‘1945 moment,’ where the enormity of loss and sacrifice, the scale of economic devastation, and fatigue with austerity, combine to create the conditions for a radical shift in European public policy,” they wrote.

 

You can read the full article HERE.

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