TRADE UNION leaders have acknowledged for the first time that temporary measures which would reduce public sector earnings next year are necessary if across-the board pay cuts are to be avoided. The admission follows a day that saw 250,000 public sector workers take part in what unions described as the State’s largest-ever strike.
Schools, Civil Service offices and many local authority services closed for yesterday’s strike, while hospitals and courts ran a limited service. Thousands of public service workers took part in pickets.
Speaking at a press conference held by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) public services committee, Peter McLoone, general secretary of Impact trade union, said “it would be necessary to agree some temporary measures to cut payroll costs in 2010 because reforms were unlikely to deliver the necessary savings before 2011”.
Asked last night whether this could include cuts in overtime rates or allowances or the introduction of short-time working, he said the Government had indicated these would be on the table.
However, the unions again rejected any cuts in pay rates for public service staff.
Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan told the Dáil last night it was “not unreasonable” to seek a reduction in public service salaries, given the parlous state of the public finances.
Trade unions will today go back into talks with the Government on an alternative agreement to reduce the public sector pay bill by €1.3 billion without cutting pay levels.
If the talks fail, the unions are to hold a second 24-hour stoppage around the country tomorrow week, on December 3rd.
The deal the unions are hoping to reach with the Government would see substantial savings generated by means of a public service transformation programme which would involve significant reductions in numbers and new work practice reforms.
The menu of options from which the so-called “bridging measures” for 2010 were likely to be drawn included:
- Paying overtime at flat rates rather than time-and-a-half;
- Introducing an 8am-8pm core day during which no overtime payments would apply;
- Introduction of unpaid leave, perhaps as much as 12 days per year;
- The possibility of staff working a small number of additional hours per week;
- The elimination of privilege days at Christmas and Easter.
Mr McLoone said that the ambition of the trade unions was “to negotiate a deal that motivates public servants to be part of a transformation that allows us to come out of this recession with better and more responsive public services at a lower cost to the taxpayer.
“This will be far more difficult, but it has the potential to really transform our public services in a way that a series of demotivating pay cuts never will,” he said.
He said union members had the resolve and strength to resist the Government if it pursued an unfair and counter-productive course of further pay cuts.
However, Mr Lenihan said that he and other members of the Government were deeply disappointed at yesterday’s action.
“Public servants enjoy a job security and a guaranteed pension that is unique in the workforce at present. In that regard, their experience during this recession is far more benign than that of many in the private sector,” he said.
Speaking during a special Dáil debate, he said his department had estimated the cost of living for working households had dropped by 7.5 per cent over the past year.
“As prices fall, the real spending power of income earners rises. Over the last 20 years, salaries in the public service have increased substantially ahead of inflation.
“Given the parlous state of the public finances and the fact that falling prices have boosted workers’ real spending power, it is not unreasonable to seek a reduction in salaries,” said Mr Lenihan.