THE GOVERNMENT has said it will operate the proposed new public service pay and reform deal, including the scheduled reviews of pay, in absolute good faith.
In a statement issued after a meeting of the Cabinet yesterday, the Government said that the deal reached at Croke Park a fortnight ago represented “the best that could be negotiated”.
The deal has been criticised in particular over a clause which states that the terms are subject to there being “no currently-unforeseen budgetary deterioration”.
Some union members have claimed that this represents a “get-out-of-jail card” for the Government. Meanwhile, the executive committee of another public service union yesterday recommended that its members should reject the agreement in a forthcoming ballot.
The general secretary of the Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT), Mike Jennings, said that while it recognised that there were some positives in the proposed agreement, “the offer of a blank cheque for the renegotiation of staff contracts, with fundamental and far-reaching implications for educational standards, is simply not acceptable.”
The executive of IFUT also decided that it would not be bound by the outcome of any aggregate vote on the deal involving the public service committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu).
“The executive of IFUT also decided that the conditions of employment of its members will not be subject to aggregated vote by other unions on the proposed agreement and reserved the right to make whatever decisions are necessary if members’ jobs and conditions are put in jeopardy,” the union said.
Another union, the TEEU, which represents around 1,200 craft workers in the public service, is also expected to recommend rejection of the Croke Park deal when it meets today. The executive of Impact, the largest public service union, meets today to consider its recommendation on the deal. Last week the Impact executive committee said that it could not recommend acceptance.
However, last night the union’s largest division, its health division, urged that the union should make no formal recommendation on the deal at all – a move which could improve the prospects of it being passed by members.
Meanwhile, the general secretary of the CPSU, Blair Horan, told members in a memo yesterday that he expected that the deal would be renegotiated if unions rejected it in their various ballots.
In its statement, the Government said that it had noted the position adopted by various public service unions regarding the proposed new agreement.
“The Government, for its part, believes that the draft agreement represents the best deal that can be negotiated. In the interest of clarity, the Government confirmed its intention, on ratification, to enter into and operate the agreement in absolute good faith, including the provisions relating to the review of public service pay,” it stated.
On Tuesday the country’s largest union, Siptu, said that “the balance of advantage” rested with acceptance of the deal. But it said that the proposals “would undoubtedly benefit from greater clarification in a number of respects”.
Yesterday’s developments mean the executive committees of seven public service unions affiliated to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions have now indicated their opposition to the Croke Park deal. Another union and a staff representative body, not affiliated to Ictu, have also recommended that their members should reject the deal. The executives of four unions have urged their members to vote in favour of the deal.