Failure by the Government to address the issue of decentralisation for semi-state bodies could have serious implications for the national wage agreement Siptu warned today.
General Secretary of Siptu, Jack O'Connor, said that people were "very aggrieved" with the way they were being treated.
"I wouldn't see us [Siptu] being able to put a proposal with a recommendation for acceptance when people find themselves in the very insidious position that people find themselves," Mr O'Connor said.
Around 200 members of Siptu staged a protest outside the offices of Minister of State for Finance Tom Parlon, the Minister responsible for implementing decentralisation, at the Office of Public Works in St Stephen's Green today.
The protesters included representatives from 16 semi-State agencies who were demonstrating following the unions call to the Government to reverse its decision to include the agencies in decentralisation.
According to the union only 56 out of 2,500 staff in 16 bodies were willing to move.
General Secretary of Siptu, Jack O'Connor
At this afternoon's protest Mr O'Connor, said that the Government had to realise that people in the non-commercial semi-state sector are not in the same position as people in the civil service generally in relation to decentralisation.
The employment conditions and circumstances of semi-State employees are different from civil servants who would have the flexibility to move to different departments.
He said: "There are very fundamental issues at stake here in relation to people's livelihoods in relation to the way they discharge their family responsibilities, in relation to the opportunities that might be open to them and these issues are going to have to be resolved and they are going to have to be resolved in a way that is fair and reasonable to the people."
Mr O'Connor also warned the Government of an escalation in industrial action if the issue could not be resolved.
