OPINION:The Croke Park pay and reform proposals would give certainty in uncertain times and should be supported
NURSES, MIDWIVES and other workers in the public service have an important decision to make over the next few weeks as they ballot on the Croke Park proposals. It is a decision important not just for them, but for the future of the services they provide and the sort of society in which we wish to live.
Some commentators seem to think we are talking about nothing more than another deal to resolve another dispute. We can take it or leave it; we can try to squeeze a bit more out of the Government side and vent our anger in the process. Our national executive rejects that notion.
There is plenty to be angry about. The public services committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions entered talks in February against the backdrop of the worst economic crisis in the history of the State. We brought with us the rage and frustration of public service workers against a Government that squandered the nation’s wealth on a property bubble and then decided that our members, along with the unemployed and those most dependent on the services we provide, should foot the bill.
Our members experienced two pay cuts in the past year and faced the prospect of further cuts to meet fiscal targets the Government locked us into with the European Commission, not to mention bailing out the banks. We entered talks intent on finding solutions that protected jobs, protected pay and afforded dedicated nurses, midwives and other public service workers the opportunity to ensure reforms are carried out in ways that protect the quality and delivery of services.
The proposals that emerged reflect that agenda. Some opponents think naively that if the proposals are rejected nothing will happen. Very few spell out the reality that a massive escalation of industrial action will be the only way of stopping the Government from introducing further cuts, egged on by private vested interests.
Siptu is under no such illusions. If the proposals are rejected we already have a mandate to resume our action, knowing that, in the estimation of our executive, the terms were the very best that could be achieved.
These proposals represent a degree of certainty in uncertain times, but they do not represent blanket support for Government policy. Quite the opposite: acceptance of these proposals will stop the wholesale outsourcing of jobs and by protecting jobs we will protect services. The Government will be committed to in-sourcing as the preferred option. Health employers will not be able to start a race to the bottom by opting for the cheapest, crudest and most damaging ways of cutting budgets so beloved by number crunchers.
The proposals do make reference to the moratorium on public service numbers, which the Government had already introduced against opposition from Siptu and other unions. But acceptance of these proposals is not a vote for the moratorium. Rather, the proposals mean redeployment will take place in a planned way and our members will have the opportunity to appeal decisions which adversely affect them and their social and family commitments.
Nurses and midwives in Siptu, along with all our other 70,000 public service members, will have an opportunity to vote on proposals that secure a degree of certainty for themselves and their families.
It is unfair to present the ballot as some sort of referendum on the Government. It is up to the electorate, including public service workers, to give their verdict in due course on this appalling administration, but we do not have the right to make the health services, or any other part of the public service, a surrogate battle ground to decide other issues. What we do need to do is ensure that our public services emerge intact, and with the minimum damage possible, from the current crisis.
We negotiated directly with the public service employers and a consensus was reached. We left nothing at the table. If I, or any of those charged with negotiating these proposals on behalf of Siptu, believed that more could have been achieved we would not have left Croke Park until we were satisfied.
The talks concluded when we reached the best possible outcome. It is now up to our members to give their verdict and we will be bound by that decision.
Louise O’Reilly is national nursing officer of Siptu