Decentralisation ‘treats staff as commodities’

CIVIL servants in Dublin will never co-operate with the decentralisation programme while they continue to be treated as commodities, the country’s largest trade union claimed last night.

SIPTU’s regional secretary Mike Jennings said the Government’s attitude towards decentralisation was denying rural towns an economic windfall.

“I would love to see more workers coming to our region but coming because they want to come not because they have to come, not forced to come by threats and intimidation,” he pointed out.

“I firmly believe that part of the reason why so many have not applied to decentralise is precisely because they resent the manner in which the whole plan has been handled.”

Mr Jennings made his comments to 350 delegates who were at Waterford Institute of Technology for SIPTU’s Regional Congress.

He said that from the very beginning the plan to relocate 10,000 civil servants has been characterised by a lack of respect for workers.

So far, less than 10% of jobs earmarked for decentralisation have moved out of the capital.

The Decentralisation Implementation Group expects that by the end of 2007, only 2,000 relocations will have taken place.

“The Government has sent a signal to workers that their wishes don’t count, that they are not only employed but also controlled and, naturally enough, people react badly to being treated in that way,” Mr Jennings said.

The two-day congress moves to Waterford’s Tower Hotel this morning where it will be addressed by the president of Poland’s largest trade union, Janusz Sniadek.

SIPTU has entered into a partnership agreement with the union Solidarnosc on the issue of migrant workers’ rights.

Last night, Mr Jennings said the availability of migrant workers should not be used as an excuse for undermining employment standards.

“We are somehow supposed to believe that we are bestowing some kind of favour on the people of Eastern Europe and elsewhere if we encourage migration,” he said.

“It’s as if they should be grateful to us if we encourage them to come here to be exploited in dirty, difficult and dangerous jobs at scandalously low pay levels,” he added.