TRADE UNIONS representing staff in local authorities are claiming that plans by management to introduce standardised working hours and leave arrangements should not apply to existing personnel.
Unions maintain such changes are not necessary to deliver the savings or productivity required under the Croke Park agreement.
Under the deal, the Department of the Environment and the Local Government Management Service Board have sought to reform leave and working hours, which differ in various local authorities.
About half of clerical, administrative and technical staff in local authorities work a 33-hour week, while the other half work a 35-hour week. There are also a variety of leave arrangements that apply in different parts of the country, including privilege days for staff, some of which relate to local events.
Management had sought to bring all staff working less than a 35-hour week up to that level.
They also wanted to put in place a standardised leave arrangement which would run from a minimum of 23 days to a maximum of 32 days. Management accepted that this would result in some staff losing out on existing leave arrangements. The number affected has not been made known.
However, trade unions opposed these proposals and the issue is now to be referred to the national body charged with implementing the Croke Park deal.
Under its action plan for the agreement, the department had sought to introduce a standardised working week by next month and the new leave arrangement by December.
The trade union Impact said yesterday that “demands from management for reduced annual leave and a longer working week are not necessary to deliver the savings or productivity required under the Croke Park deal”.
It said local authority services were being maintained despite the departure of over 6,000 staff since 2008.
It said staff had also shown their willingness to respond to surges in demand such as during the bad weather last December.
“Our position is that, by seeking to punish staff who are delivering these productivity gains, management risks undermining ongoing efforts to save more taxpayers’ money and improve services.”
Impact said the Croke Park deal set out very specific changes required in each sector. It said that these changes did not include a requirement for increased hours or reduced leave in the local authority sector. It said that in the education sector, by contrast, the Croke Park deal was absolutely explicit that teachers must work an additional hour per week.
“It is inconceivable that the agreement could require a much more substantial increase in local authority working time without being at least equally explicit.
“Management proposals for longer hours and less leave would punish local authority staff for delivering more with less. Croke Park is about reconfiguring services and working harder to deal with significantly reduced staff numbers. That is already happening in every local authority.
“We believe that it should be possible to reach agreement on standardised hours and leave for new entrants, which was the successful approach taken in the health services where standardisation of working time has already been agreed.”
Details of the row over reforms to leave and the working week in the local authority sector come just a week after an arbitration board rejected proposals put forward by the Department of Finance to end privilege days in the Civil Service.
