Most lost work days in public sector

DAYS lost in industrial disputes this year were firmly rooted in the public sector.

Striking public health doctors and clerical staff in the Department of Agriculture made up the bulk of the 32,000 days lost in the first six months of 2003.

Their second quarter disputes accounted for more than 28,000 days out of work.

The Irish Congress of Trades Union said industrial peace in the private sector showed the partnership approach between employer and employee was effective.

However, the business body IBEC said the figures from the Central Statistics Office were disappointing and clearly demonstrated that over 80% of disputes, in recent years, were in public service sectors.

IBEC’s director of human resources Brendan McGinty said the figures had implications for planned benchmarking awards as industrial peace was a key requirement of the present national pay programme, Sustaining Progress, to which all partners, including the Government, committed themselves.

Mr McGinty said while trends in the private sector remained positive, it was remarkable that industrial disputes in the public services in 2003 showed an increase of 300% on days lost over the first six months of last year.

Although the private sector remained relatively incident-free, Congress said employers in the private sector should not interpret the latest figures as a complacency within the unions.

Oliver Donoghue of Congress said: “It shows the partnership approach is working. It shows there are new ways of doing business and, as long asemployers deliver, workers arehappy. However, any attempt to backtrack on any agreement would quickly lead to a more militant style of action.”

A total of 650 workers were in dispute for more than 28,000 work days between April and June.

The CSO figures for the second quarter showed a total of 29,070 days lost with the remainder also in the public service.

The April-June figures surpassed last year’s entire total of days lost.

The eight disputes in progress in the second quarter involved 16 organisations and 1,291 workers.