Unions to hit Oireachtas in escalation of pay cuts protest
The protest against the pay cuts announced in the last budget will see sudden, unannounced disruption by civil service workers to the work of the various elected representatives. The unions will give no advance warning of the form that disruption will take so as to give those affected as little time as possible to react.
Yesterday, members of IMPACT, the Public Service Executive Union (PSEU) and the Civil Public and Services Union (CPSU) working in the Oireachtas agreed to establish a joint disputes committee, which will immediately draw up coordinated actions that are likely to impact on Oireachtas business in the coming weeks.
Afterwards, IMPACT national secretary Louise O’Donnell said the unions would not be giving notice of their actions.
“Our members are coming into the Oireachtas each day and diligently working for people who have voted to cut their pay twice in the last year.
“Union members at today’s meeting were clear they wanted to co-ordinate their work-to-rule across the unions to up the ante and cause maximum irritation to the Government rather than the public,” she said.
The meeting was also addressed by PSEU general secretary Tom Geraghty and CPSU representative Mary Gibbons. Oireachtas staff have been working to rule since January 25. Their unions reject the Government’s view there is “no alternative” to the pay cuts and say they put forward an alternative last year, which would have delivered the savings required by the Government in 2010 while ensuring vital services were protected as expenditure and staff numbers continued to fall in future years.
Union leaders have said such a transformation of public services remains necessary and their proposals could be back on the table if the Government were prepared to negotiate on the basis the pay cuts can be reversed if equivalent, or larger savings, are made through public service transformation. As they prepare to escalate action against elected representatives, the unions yesterday continued their campaign of closing public offices.
Yesterday, public offices at the Departments of Foreign Affairs, Environment, Education and Communications Energy and Natural Resources, as well as the Office of Public Works were closed until lunchtime. In the afternoon civil service staff in those areas refused to answer telephone queries. Such action is expected to continue for the rest of the week.
