Government reps to meet unions ahead of reform ballot

GOVERNMENT representatives will meet with trade unions to try to clarify aspects of the public sector pay and reform proposals prior to crucial ballots later this month.

Speaking on RTÉ radio yesterday Public Services Minister Dara Calleary said: “We are open to clarifications around the elements of the deal. I understand that many of the unions are organising information meetings around the country for their members starting this week and we are anticipating that there will be a number of questions and clarifications sought from those meetings and we are more than happy to do so.”

Mr Calleary said the Government was, however, not open to amending the proposals, and that all clarifications will be given within he context of the deal.

At the weekend the Medical Laboratory Scientists Association (MSLA) AGM conditionally endorsed its executive’s decision to support the proposals. It’s 2,000-member endorsement depends on a pause in the HSE’s cold laboratory procurement process to allow for “meaningful engagement” on the reconfiguration of pathology services.

MLSA general secretary, Terry Casey said: “Our assessment of the public service proposals is that on balance they provide our members with a clear mechanism for laboratory reconfiguration which obliges the HSE to firstly consult with all stakeholders in order to agree a plan to address the service changes necessary to retain services in-house rather than outsourcing parts of the service to the private sector.”

To date, the leadership of four other unions have recommended acceptance: SIPTU, the INTO, the PSEU (Public Service Executive Union) and the Association of Higher Civil and Public Servants.

Eight are opposing the deal: the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO), Unite, the TUI, the ASTI, the Civil Public and Services Union, the Irish Federation of University Teachers, the Technical, Engineering and Electrical Union and the soldiers’ group, PDFORRA.

The executive of the largest public sector union, IMPACT, which said it could not recommend acceptance, has deferred its ballot on the proposals to seek clarification of certain elements of the agreement.

Trade unionists’ concerns are centring on the uneven nature of the proposed deal and a clause which allows the Government to pull out of an agreement in the event of a “currently unforeseen budgetary deterioration”.

Nurses and teachers are particularly uneasy with several of the “reforms” proposed for their sectors.

INMO general secretary, Liam Doran, said SIPTU’s success in negotiating a favourable proposal on halting the outsourcing of public sector jobs to private companies, made the deal more palatable but did nothing to allay nurses’ concerns over the Government’s intention to cut frontline HSE staffing levels.