A chara, – The Government can no longer bury its head in the sand. The Lansdowne Road Agreement (LRA) is dead in the water and a new agreement needs to be found.
Siptu has upped the ante by initiating ballot proceedings across its 180,000-strong membership to force the hand of the Government to a new round of pay talks. Impact had already warned of a “fundamental change” that would result from any deal with the Garda that would have been perceived to be more generous than that provided for within the LRA framework.
The Siptu action was designed to force an invitation to the public services committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, which would provide for a collective approach.
If the Government does not move quickly, then individual unions will make individual moves, leading to a dysfunctional basket of agreements that will underpin public-service delivery. This will not be good for the end-user of services, the employee, or the Government as the employer. The taxpayer will also lose out. The Government needs to take charge and provide leadership by announcing talks in February and working out a pathway to recovery in a cohesive manner and infused by the principles of social partnership. This approach worked in the past and could secure a fairer, better future. – Is mise,
KILLIAN BRENNAN,
Dublin 17.
A chara, – Arthur Boland's assumption (letters, November 17th) that "the great majority of public servants have job security and a guaranteed pension" most certainly does not apply in education, where casual and low-hour contracts are becoming the norm and pension and job security have become a distant dream for the majority of our younger teachers.
Recently one of my past pupils was interviewed for a four-hour teaching post in Dublin, but on being selected was unable to take up the offer as the “salary” would not even cover transport costs. She has instead taken up employment at the local takeaway restaurant. Another recently gained employment in a rural secondary school but is on half-hours and a pay-scale some 15 per cent below colleagues who qualified just a year before her.
These stories are backed up by OECD statistics that show that Ireland has one of the highest levels of non-permanent teachers in Europe and that the percentage of our part-time teachers is almost double the European average.
Schools, especially in the capital, are experiencing a high level of staff turnover, with all the associated difficulties in continuity that this entails for our students. Highly qualified teachers will take their abilities elsewhere and new graduates will be less likely to consider teaching as a career.
I doubt if many parents will be happy with a situation where their children’s education is being disrupted by teachers repeatedly job-hopping, seeking better employment conditions in other schools or in other countries. – Is mise,
KEVIN P McCARTHY,
Killarney,
Co Kerry.
Sir, – It is clear from current headlines that civil and public sector unions will not stop demanding more from the collective tax pot until it is empty – again. And the Government will keep conceding with their usual populist financial short-sightedness. We’ve been here before.
It is clearly time for the rest of the taxpayers to organise themselves and say enough is enough. All the recent post-crisis gains in the Irish economy will be wiped out otherwise and our semi-restored public finances will be back in a downward spiral before you can say “benchmarking”.
Let’s see where the world after Brexit and Trump leaves us before we start raiding the State kitty. – Yours, etc,
VINCENT HIBBERT,
Inchicore,
Dublin 8.
Sir, – Will no-one shout “stop” to the madness that is the likely Government capitulation to the insane demands by various public service unions for pay rises when the country is still buried under a vast mountain of debt and running a huge current account deficit?
If a private-sector employer went to his bank manager seeking to borrow more money to give pay rises to staff in circumstances where his business was overwhelmingly in debt and running at a substantial loss, he’d be laughed out of the bank’s office. Why should the public sector not be subject to the same rational ways? Brexit and Trump’s election just exacerbate this insanity. The troika’s return can’t be far off now. – Yours, etc,
RICHARD McDONNELL,
Ardee,
Co Louth.