Public servants sold out every step of the way

CROKE Park, a place dear to the hearts of all Irish people, has been tainted by a shameful association.

There, the general secretaries of all the public service unions sat down with the Government seeking to reverse the pay cuts and emerged with no reversal of any kind but instead a recipe for the complete destruction of the public services right across the land.

But no sooner had the club of general secretaries emerged from the talks than reality began to reassert itself. One after another, the elected executive committees of the different unions, having read in horror the text of the proposals, said no. TUI led, followed by ASTI, INMO, CPSU, IFUT, UNITE and POA.

GRA president Michael O’Boyce courageously told the Government what every rank-and-file garda is thinking, much to the horror of Justice Minister, Dermot Ahern. Mr O’Boyce and the GRA are to be saluted and they should be loudly supported by all right-thinking citizens.

The IMPACT executive committee immediately rejected the shameful proposals too. Now it has been duped into doing a volte face and is recommending the proposals on foot of some kind of supposed “clarifications” obtained. Who would believe reassurances from the present Government? The facts are clear. The proposals are simply an attempt to get the unions to do the Government’s dirty work. To enable the Government to find the funds to bail out the owners of Anglo Irish Bank without taxing the wealthy, it is proposed to close and privatise much of the public service, decimate its staff, impose a five-year pay freeze, allow public servants to be relocated anywhere in Ireland, facilitate their easy dismissal, further reduce their incomes through loss of overtime and allowances, make no promise to reverse the pay cuts and, by a ‘no industrial action’ clause, eliminate all union protection for members.

All future public servants will have their pensions severely reduced. Every interpretation of the Croke Park proposals is subject to external imposition by binding arbitration.

The unions will be out of the frame, which is exactly where some of their leaders want them to be. Both public servants and the services they provide will be destroyed. No “clarification” will alter that reality one whit.

Public servants still retain their sanity. The proposals will be rejected at ballot. They must be rejected by an historic margin. Every single “yes” vote, motivated by an understandable sense of hopelessness, will be a further sign of weakness and will bring further cuts and assaults on public servants that much closer.

Every public servant with a vote must vote “no”. It is the only way to start the fight-back against this insidious Government and those leading trade unions which are there to do its bidding. Public servants have been sold out every step of the way up to now.

Either the rot stops right here or it will go on and on until we have nothing left to take from us.

Our choice is simple. Take a stand now or abandon trade unionism for good. Vote “no”.

Signed on behalf of the Kerry Public Service Workers’ Alliance:

Martin O’Grady

TUI Branch Chair

IT Tralee Cormac Williams

PNA John Duggan

SIPTU Teddy Foley

IMPACT Pat Keane

PSEU John O’Connor

CPSU