MINISTER for Social and Family Affairs Mary Hanafin has accused the Civil Public and Services Union (CPSU) of intransigence and of blocking new initiatives aimed at reducing the time people have to wait to have their applications for claims decided.
However, the union, which represents lower-paid staff in the Civil Service, has rejected the claim.
Ms Hanafin said yesterday a pilot scheme in Dundalk, under which 40 per cent of applicants had had their claims decided on the day, had been stopped because the union made “an unreasonable claim” for promotions.
She said the CPSU had sought that every person deciding on a claim would have to get a promotion from clerical officer to staff officer. “They pulled the plug on a really good scheme that would have made a huge difference to people under pressure.”
On RTÉ’s Morning Ireland yesterday, the Minister said the staff involved were upset about the issue but the union had been “quite intransigent”.
However, the assistant general secretary of the CPSU, Derek Mullen, said the union had not blocked the scheme and the Minister needed to get a briefing from her officials. The question of upgrading for staff had first been raised by management in the department. Social welfare legislation required that certain decisions had to be made by staff at certain levels.
Mr Mullen said the union had had discussions with senior officials in the last two weeks and this week he had written a letter suggesting further talks to determine if the Dundalk scheme could be revived.
Ms Hanafin also said the CPSU was blocking a scheme to allow straightforward jobseeker claims to be decided in branch offices which are operated by private sector managers on a contract basis. The union maintained this represented out-sourcing.
However, Mr Mullen said this was “spin”. The department had agreed to take this issue to binding arbitration and the process should be completed shortly.
The Minister told the Dáil on Thursday that the Live Register had almost doubled between May 2008 and May 2009 to 397,000. Some 300 extra staff had been provided to work in local offices.