Passport staff to strike if pay docked

THE stakes have been significantly raised in the Government’s conflict with the public sector unions with passport workers ready to strike early next week if their pay is docked.

Last night the Civil and Public Sector Union (CPSU) general secretary Blair Horan said those seeking passports should not be fearful as a strike will only take place if a Department of Foreign Affairs threat to dock the wages of workers partaking in industrial action is carried out.

Mr Horan said: “We had a threat from Department of Foreign Affairs management to the pay of our people, on the one hand we responded to that threat in a very clear fashion that we won’t tolerate it and on the other hand we took steps to alleviate pressure on the passport office.” He added; “We do not want to talk about strikes as the situation should not be made worse. But management needn’t think they can threaten our people with pay cuts and get away with it.”