UNIONS' REACTION:THE AGREEMENT reached between public service unions and Government negotiators presents an opportunity to end industrial unrest and bring stability to public service provision and pay, Impact general secretary Peter McLoone said.
Mr McLoone said the union’s executive would meet tomorrow to decide if the deal should be recommended to its members ahead of a ballot.
He said the work of its members had been “characterised by uncertainty, despondency, poor morale and disruption” since February of last year.
“We know that the economic climate will continue to be extremely difficult, but I believe these proposals hold out the hope that our public services can be better managed and delivered, and that public servants will see some certainty over their pay, jobs and pensions, with the prospect of restoring pay cuts over time as reforms deliver real savings.”
Earlier, Mr McLoone told RTÉ news that the outcome of the negotiations presented everybody in the public service with a real possibility to “find an alternative to the industrial conflict that has dominated the landscape in recent months”.
“Currently we are facing very serious threats to public service . . . and the way we have been managing that up until now has brought us into conflict.”
Mr McLoone said the agreement presented an opportunity to restore the “trust, confidence and morale that has been damaged” and allows unions to “negotiate” their way through the challenges rather than continue the conflict which is threatening to escalate.
“Hopefully the Government and ourselves can find a better way to do business than has been the case over the last 18 months or so.”
Civil Public and Services Union (CPSU) general secretary Blair Horan said the union had achieved four of the five objectives it sought when entering the negotiations.
“We set out five objectives in those negotiations; of the three of them on pay we achieved two, which were no further pay cuts; priority for lower paid or those on €35,000 and below in the restoration of pay levels next year. We also were looking for money back this year, we didn’t achieve that.
“We had two non-pay core demands; the department was looking for major changes for flexible working, major changes to work-life balance; we managed to protect our members’ interests on those two issues, so out of five objectives we’ve achieved four.”
Mr Horan said the big issues arising out of the deal would be redeployment and an effective reduction in numbers, which would result in less people doing the same amount of work. “I think they are going to be the big challenges in the Civil Service.”
He said for the first time ever in a set of public service negotiations people earning €35,000 or less had been prioritised. “From my point of view that was a major achievement even if we didn’t get money back this year.”
The CPSU executive is to meet today to discuss the agreement, and a ballot of members is likely to take place soon.