Trade unions back various forms of action over pay cuts

THE NATIONAL executive of a number of trade unions yesterday said they would support various forms of industrial action in protest at the public service pay cuts imposed in the Budget.

The trade union Impact is proposing selective strike action with the possibility of a wide-scale strike at a later date.

Separately, the Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) said a programme of industrial action up to and including strike action would be developed, preferably with the other teacher and public service unions.

The national executive of the Psychiatric Nurses Association also yesterday backed full and continuous strike action as part of a campaign against the cuts.

In a bulletin issued to members last night following a meeting of its central executive committee, Impact said such selective strike action would be used intermittently alongside a sustained work-to-rule non-co-operation campaign against the Government’s change agenda.

Impact said its response to the pay cuts would “include industrial action – firstly in the form of total non-co-operation with the management change agenda – and with further strikes if necessary”.

“There will also be a managed withdrawal from most local partnership arrangements, extensive and ongoing political and PR work, and an exploration of the legal options in the face of pay cuts and future changes to pension entitlements,” it said.

Impact said the industrial action element of the strategy included the possibility of:

• Selective strike action to be used intermittently alongside a sustained work-to-rule non-co-operation campaign;
• Other forms of disruptive action;
• Targeting specific areas in response to the threat of compulsory redundancies and disciplinary action for non-co-operation;
• Demonstration and protests in conjunction with service users as appropriate; and
• Consideration of a wide-scale strike at a strategic point in the campaign.

Meanwhile, the TUI said its executive committee at a meeting yesterday condemned the Budget as “retrogressive, savage and completely inequitable in its treatment of public servants”.

In addition to developing a programme of industrial action, the TUI executive also decided it would not engage in discussions as part of the Government’s transformation agenda.

It also said a programme of work-to-rule for second-level schools would be drawn up in conjunction with the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland. It said that a programme of work- to-rule for institutes of technology would also be drawn up.

The TUI executive also said it no longer agreed to be bound by the Towards 2016 national agreement and that the union would support the withdrawal from social partnership.

The TUI said it would “campaign vigorously to restore pay cuts and maintain public service pension provision in its current form”. The union said a meeting would be held in early January to discuss further possible measures proposed by branches.

Meanwhile, the national executive of the Psychiatric Nurses Association (PNA) backed a full and continuous strike in protest at the pay cuts introduced by the Government in the Budget.

At a meeting yesterday, the PNA, which has about 6,500, members, called on other public service unions to join with it in strike action.

PNA general secretary Des Kavanagh said that some members had suffered cuts of up to 25 per cent as a result of the pay deductions and various levies imposed over the last year.

He said that members were “shattered” as a result of the latest pay cuts announced in the Budget.

The trade union Unite said it would join with other unions and community and voluntary sector representatives in mounting a protest about the pay cuts at Dáil Éireann on Tuesday evening.