ONE OF the main unions in the Civil Service, the CPSU, has told members it opposed the plan to give 12 days unpaid leave to staff on the State payroll.
In a bulletin to members last night, the general secretary of the CPSU, Blair Horan, said the union had opposed the unpaid leave plan which was a central element of the union movement’s alternative programme for generating savings in the public sector pay bill.
He said the CPSU had opposed the plan on the grounds that all grades would have to take the same 4.6 per cent cut in pay next year, that union members in processing grades in larger departments would have to cope with bigger backlogs of work and that the proposal would be difficult to sell publicly.
“CPSU proposed an alternative approach of six to 18 days related to salary bands, with a cap of 12 days on the leave to be available to staff.
“There was not sufficient support for this even though it would have made the ‘temporary pay cut’ fairer as the higher paid would take a bigger percentage cut,” said Mr Horan
He said even though he had not supported the across-the-board 12 days of unpaid leave, he was prepared to defend it publicly against misrepresentation in certain quarters.
