TALKS BETWEEN Government representatives and trade unions on changes in the public sector could get under way as early as tomorrow.
Trade unions have also been told to prepare for a meeting with the Government on its proposed new employment protection and creation initiative.
This is an idea which could involve the use of funding which otherwise would have been earmarked for social welfare payments.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen told the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) last week that the Government placed great importance on a transformation agenda for the public service.
He stated in a letter that it was the desire of Government “to conclude a robust agreement which delivered greater flexibility in the deployment of people and resources within and where necessary across public service boundaries so that we can restructure public service delivery” .
In the same letter Mr Cowen also signalled that the Government wanted to put in place imaginative measures which would break new ground in attempts to sustain jobs.
The Taoiseach said that the Government intended to introduce new approaches to intervening and to apply resources which would otherwise be required for social welfare payments.
Unions and employers have sought a €1 billion State investment in job protection and creation measures.
Trade union sources said this weekend that talks on the public sector were expected to get underway in the Department of Finance this week, and possibly as early as tomorrow.
Public sector trade unions have said that they want guarantees about pay and pensions.
These, they say, would include the current tax-free status of existing retirement lump sums, as well as a framework for job numbers before they would recommend any new social partnership deal on national recovery to members.
Mr Cowen, in his letter to Ictu, also noted that it was only in the context of an agreement on public-service transformation that the concerns of trade unions could be addressed.
