The employers' body Ibec has said that non-union companies can implement change much faster and more effectively than those that engage with unions.
In a statement in advance of a major human resources summit in Dublin today, Ibec director Brendan McGinty said all too often employers in unionised environments found that "the implementation of change cost too much and took too long because of intransigence".
"Unions must recognise that, unless they become champions for change, businesses will fail, jobs will be lost, and unions will continue to lose credibility and influence."
Mr McGinty criticised the country's largest union Siptu for setting down pre-conditions to a new partnership deal. The union needed to decide if it was in or out of the partnership process.
Last week Siptu president Jack O'Connor warned that the decision of Aer Lingus, a company in which the Government holds a 25 per cent stake, to withhold payments due under the national agreement until a cost-cutting deal was implemented had immense implications for social partnership.
He said the Government would have to act on issues such as the treatment of agency workers and union representation as part of any new agreement.
Mr McGinty said as the country faced into a period of more moderate economic growth it was vital "that we all work together to control costs, secure jobs, and to give ourselves a competitive edge".
"The public expects the social partners to get on with the job of keeping Ireland competitive and safeguarding living standards. They are tired of posturing and the uncertainty this creates.
"In recent years Siptu in particular has spent much time threatening to withdraw from partnership or laying down pre-conditions before the negotiations get under way. This is regrettable.
"The union is either committed to the process and to having issues resolved within it, or it is not. Most reasonable people would appreciate if Siptu made up its mind one way or the other."
Mr McGinty said the 10-year timeframe of the existing agreement, Towards 2016, was aimed at providing stability and avoiding the kind of uncertainty created by Siptu's recent statements.
"Negotiations on the first phase of the agreement were unnecessarily complicated and drawn out because of exaggerated commentary and claims, unsupported by independent research, about the treatment of migrants and the displacement of Irish workers."
He said Irish businesses were facing serious challenges, and that labour costs here had risen faster than anywhere else in the euro area.
He said among the measures necessary to win back a competitive edge were that everyone, whether in the public or private sector, had to accept that work practice change was a normal part of keeping up with the competition; costs should not increase faster than those in our trading partners; and that change was especially needed in those sectors not exposed to international competition.
