FÁS CUTBACKS: FÁS REPRESENTATIVES are due to attend the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) on Monday morning in relation to impending job losses at the State training agency.
The trade union Siptu, which will also take part in the LRC discussions, has said 46 Fás instructors and six general staff on temporary contracts are to be let go without compensation.
Delegations from Fás and Siptu will speak separately to an LRC officer at 10.30am on Monday. A conciliation conference involving both parties may follow if some level of agreement can be reached.
Siptu branch officer Brendan O'Brien said he was not optimistic that much, if any, progress would be made, although he had appealed to Fás to come to the discussions with an open mind.
He said the union had been attempting to deal with the matter quietly over the last few weeks but was prompted to go public when it learned through media reports that Fás's former director general, Rody Molloy, was likely to receive a golden handshake of €300,000.
The union says the 52 job cuts are part of a plan by Fás to deliver savings of 3 per cent in its wage bill to meet the Government's public sector targets.
"However, this evening we learned from Fás that the Government now was seeking 6 per cent savings in staff costs from the wage budget," Mr O'Brien said.
"These people who are losing their jobs have done nothing wrong. Their contracts are being terminated prematurely and they are to be kicked out without a penny. Ironically, Fás hasn't come back to them offering any help as the State training agency. It's callous."
A spokeswoman for Fás said the organisation would not be commenting on the matter until after the meeting on Monday.
Meanwhile, in a letter to The Irish Times, a Dublin-based instructor on a Fás-funded course for people with disabilities has revealed another cutback.
Niamh McCarthy said a Fás representative told her on Monday last that any disabled student absent from class for a day, with or without a doctor's certificate, would have 80 cent deducted from their €4 trainee weekly meal allowance.
Fás has not responded to Ms McCarthy's claim.
