ICTU: Pay deal is best possible scenario

WITH a second teaching union pushing for the public service pay deal to be voted down, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions has warned it is the best that can be achieved through negotiation and full and disruptive strikes are the only alternative.

The standing committee of the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland, which represents 18,000 teachers, yesterday expressed “total and vehement” objection to the deal hammered out in Croke Park on Tuesday. That position is likely to be adopted by its full 180-member executive council which makes decisions on any salary offer and meets on April 9.

The Teachers Union of Ireland executive has already said it will be recommending rejection by its 14,500 members, and the leader of the Civil Public and Services Union, Blair Horan, has claimed the deal is in “trouble” as far as his 14,000 members are concerned.

In the face of mounting opposition, the public service committee, which comprises the leaders of the bulk of country’s largest public service unions, has issued a statement insisting the deal represents “the best approach to protecting public services and the people who deliver them that can be achieved through negotiations”.

Last night, chairman of the committee Peter McLoone said public servants must consider the alternative to voting in favour of the deal.

“Some of these proposals will be difficult for people in the public service,” he said. “Nevertheless, this package holds out the prospect that our public services can be better managed and delivered and that public servants will see some certainty over their pay, jobs and pensions, with the prospect of restoring pay cuts over time.

“It will not be possible to get a better deal through negotiation and we are asking public servants to look at the package in detail and consider the alternative before they vote.”

Senior public service leaders are telling members if they choose to reject they must be prepared to engage in a significant level of strike action. On that basis, the Public Service Executive Union recommended acceptance of the deal to its 10,000 members. It said there was little evidence of a demand from members for a “major and ongoing withdrawal of labour” and it was unlikely such action would achieve a better outcome than the pay deal.

The PSEU and the Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO), which represents 30,000 teachers, are the only two unions so far to push for acceptance.