Mr. Michael Howard:

We will have to talk to the associations about how we will go about this. As the employer side, we will seek to be as objective as we can. It would be remiss of me not to take up the point made by Mr. Rooney. The management side is bound by the financial constraints placed on it by our current economic situation.

We have a very good and open relationship with representative associations. Very often we find at the start of the process that we may have very different points of view, and there may be quite a lengthy and robust, though open, process for us to go through with the associations. We have always found in the difficult positions we had to deal with up to now that nobody gains from anything other than an open and inclusive process. How we go about setting that up is something we must reflect on and speak with representatives about. I cannot do that today.

We hope that at the end of the process we can make whatever progress is possible. I must reference the very difficult economic position of the country, which will form an important consideration in any review process.