Budget Day 'highly unlikely' to change

It is "highly unlikely" that the set Budget Day will change, government sources said yesterday, even though the social partners had not yet reached an agreement on the cost-of-living adjustment to be paid to workers.

"We have no intention of changing the set date because this would create logistical problems," a Finance Ministry spokesman said, adding, however, that a change was not excluded either.

On Tuesday, the Chamber of Commerce called for the postponement of Budget Day from the earmarked November 9 date. The chamber had said it wants more time for the social partners to discuss the COLA issue, dismissing as "unsustainable" the package of measures proposed on the ground that a €6.06 wage put "hundreds of jobs" at risk.

While employers want the government to subsidise the wage increase, unions are insisting that cutting down or not awarding it is unacceptable as it made up for increases in expenses that workers and their families had already forked out.