Industrial action threat over decentralisation plan

CIVIL servants who are denied promotion or moved into inappropriate jobs as part of decentralisation will not be slow to take industrial action, their union has warned.

Delegates to IMPACT’s Civil Service Divisional Conference are today set to adopt a motion, calling on the union to initiate industrial action if any member is removed from a job specific to their skills, training and competencies, due to decentralisation.

The union represents 6,500 civil servants, over 850 of whom have been earmarked for decentralisation. Because they are professionals, technicians and specialists, they cannot swap jobs with non-specialist civil servants if they exercise their right to remain in Dublin when their organisations are relocated, the union says.