CPSU delegates have rejected motions calling on the incoming executive committee to adopt a policy of collective responsibility. Opposing the motion, Ms Bernadette Barrington from An Post said: "It doesn't make sense to gag members of the executive. It is bad for the morale of the union and leads to the dictatorship of the majority.
"We're not a political party and we don't have to have the one line. All we share in common is that we work for the State and earn roughly the same income."
If the conference passed the motion, she warned, she had been mandated by her own branch to speak out on issues. "We will not be taking Trappist vows and anyone who tries to stop us will have a hell of a battle on their hands."
A Telecom Eireann delegate, Mr Dave McDonagh, said there were serious disagreements among members in Telecom over the proposed Employee Share Option scheme. "I don't want a situation where the executive supports ESOP, but members within Telecom opposed to it would be gagged."
A delegate from the Civil Service Commission branch, Ms Brigid Walsh, suggested the issue be referred back to the incoming executive. It should use an outside facilitator so that issues could be discussed in a less confrontational environment. This was rejected.
In another debate, delegates called for the introduction of a national minimum wage. They proposed this should be £6.50 an hour to ensure all workers earned more than subsistence pay. This figure would mean a weekly increase of £100 for those at the bottom of the Civil Service pay scale.
Meanwhile, the conference instructed its executive to reject any agreement with Telecom that might require staff to accept liability to work a six day week, forgo the right to existing overtime payments, or impose employee contributions to pension funds.
In a separate motion the conference instructed the executive not to enter into an ESOP scheme if it undermined pension rights or removed the established civil servant status of members in Telecom.
The two motions will make it almost impossible for the union to ratify any settlement that may emerge from talks due to take place this week between the Telecom group of unions, the company and the Department of Transport, Energy and Communications on an ESOP scheme for company employees.
In return for an ESOP arrangement, the company is seeking savings of £110 million, 2,500 redundancies and much greater flexibility from employees.
Delegates were told that the new general secretary of the CPSU is Mr Blair Horan, currently deputy general secretary. He is taking over from Mr John O'Dowd who has been granted leave of absence to join the national centre for partnership as an executive director.
The conference condemned Government failure to provide extra allowances to members involved in the Customs National Drugs Team. Assistant general secretary Mr Derek Mullins said members provided a service very different from the traditional Civil Service role.
"These people are in the front line in the fight against drugs in this country," he said. "It is not good enough that they are so poorly compensated for the role they play."
The conference also passed an emergency motion of support for over 200 workers involved in an unofficial dispute at the Montupet car components factory in Belfast. Over £650 was collected for the strikers.
Executive committee members of the CPSU are to be given "unrestricted access" to the contracts of staff employed by the union. Two executive members said obstacles were put in their way when they tried to look at contracts.
Several delegates were concerned that no restrictions were placed on how executive members used the information.