ANY DEAL with the Government to avoid public sector pay cuts is likely to involve significant reductions in the number of people employed in the public sector from 2011, Impact general secretary Peter McLoone has warned officials in his union.
In a private and confidential letter sent to Impact industrial relations staff in recent days Mr McLoone said: “In my judgment the alternative [to pay cuts] is likely to involve a significant reduction in public service numbers over the next three to four years, with the likelihood that some additional exceptional measures will also be needed in 2010 to deal with the budgetary crisis next year.”
Mr McLoone outlined in the letter what was happening in talks between the Ictu Public Services Committee and Employer Representative Bodies and said the talks would not deal with the issue of additional taxation – one of the main points of the updated 10-point recovery programme published yesterday by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions.
“In fact, in my view, further increases in existing tax rates in the December budget will simply not feature,” he wrote.
Public sector trade unions and Department of Finance officials resume talks today which are aimed at exploring whether the €1.3 billion savings being sought by the Government can be secured by ways other than cutting pay. In the absence of any deal public services, including schools and the health sector, are likely to be hit by strikes on November 24th.
The Department of Finance has told Government departments and agencies that it expects an acceptable level of services to be maintained on Friday during Ictu’s day of action. It said that staff could take leave but that anyone involved in unauthorised absences would face normal disciplinary procedures including docking of pay.
The unions expect the Government will today set out its view of the size and scale of the public service at the end of the economic recovery period in 2013 – an issue at the heart of the alternative plan they are examining.
Senior union and employer sources said if the Government agreed to consider the alternative plan in detail, it could involve reducing public sector numbers considerably over the coming years by maintaining the existing moratorium on recruitment as well as continuing the current incentivised career break and early retirement schemes.
Sources said it could also involve some form of redundancy programme for staff in State agencies or bodies who could not be redeployed.
Sources said if numbers were reduced significant reform measures would be required to allow services to be maintained, or even increased in some cases.
The exceptional measures needed to produce savings next year, before the significant reduction in numbers came on stream, could be drawn from a menu of cost-saving measures which are likely to be tabled in the current talks. Highly placed sources suggested that this menu could include:
- paying overtime at flat rates rather than time and half
- introducing an 8am–8pm core day during which no overtime payments would apply
- the possibility of staff working a small number of days annually for less pay
- the possibility of staff working a small number of additional hours per week and the elimination of privilege days at Christmas and Easter.
However, at this stage there is no guarantee that any such measures could be agreed by all unions.
The talks between unions and the Department of Finance resume in the wake of a warning by the Tánaiste Mary Coughlan yesterday that a national public sector strike would send out the wrong message to potential overseas investors. She urged the unions to enter into negotiations with the Government rather than embark on strike action.
Separately, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions yesterday said Government should not tighten expenditure until the economy begins to recover.
In an update on its 10-point strategy it also proposed a third effective tax rate of about 54 per cent and opposed cuts in social welfare.