Talks aimed at halting the strike by 10,500 electricians seeking an 11 percent wage increase were due to resume on Friday, but an imminent deal was seen unlikely, threatening more disruption at scores of construction sites and businesses.
"There is frankly no greater penalty that we can impose on ourselves than to revert to the failed models of industrial conflict at a time when we require to apply all our energies to ... preserve jobs and living standards," Cowen said.
"The current dispute in the electrical contracting sector reflects little credit on either side," Cowen told a conference of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, which is balloting members for an all-out strike to support the electricians.
Ireland's reputation for peaceful industrial relations has been ruptured as the high-wage era of the "Celtic Tiger" economy gives way to record recession and a government, forced by ballooning deficits, to impose tax hikes and spending cuts.
Cowen is seeking the unions' support in pushing through unpopular spending cuts, which have been recommended by the International Monetary Fund, to help tackle the worst public finances in the euro zone.
But the ICTU's General Secretary David Begg signalled he would not get much support in the run-up to December's austerity budget.
"There is nobody on that committee who will suffer in any way as a result of the cutbacks in public services," Begg said, referring to a government-appointed committee that has recommended up to 5 billion euros of spending cuts.
Employers in the electricians' dispute have dropped demands for a 10 percent pay cut from the contractors, who have picketed the premises of international companies such as Intel and Microsoft .
At some sites, non-TEEU members have opted not to work rather than cross the picket line and risk the wrath of striking colleagues.
"There is an onus on both sides to engage constructively in that process and to reflect in their behaviour the reality of the impact the dispute is having on the wider economy and its reputation," Cowen said.
He also pointed to the government's efforts to stimulate the economy which is set to contract by around 8 percent this year, partly by spending 5 percent of gross national product (GNP) on infrastructure investment.
"Despite the difficult adjustments which have been made already, we are continuing to operate at record levels of deficit—the gap between income and expenditure," he said. "By any definition, this is an expansionary fiscal approach."
