Picket on Pay Talks‏

national | worker & community struggles and protests | press release Saturday March 27, 2010 17:40 by Jerry Cornelius - National Public Service Alliance

National Public Services Alliance Conference, Saturday, March 27

The National Public Service Alliance of public service trade unionists placed a picket on the plenary talks between ICTU and Government to-day in Dublin. Members of the Kerry Public Service workers Alliance, and new branches from several regional centres joined their Dublin Colleagues on the picket line. Placards with legends such as “end the sell out talks”, “conditions of service are pay” and “trade union leaders captured by government” were carried.

Report on National Public Services Alliance Conference, Saturday, March 27

Current Talks, (these are not negotiations)—Why they should end now!

NPSA is seeking the unconditional restoration of pay cuts and the removal of further threats, an end to the pension levy and an end to the staffing moratorium . These are all unilateral breaches of existing industrial relations agreements by the Government as employer.

To reward Government for these breaches by unions offering concessions to Government under the so-called Transformation Agenda is not negotiation but capitulation. It is an incentive to government to impose further attacks on public servants in the knowledge that unions will always crawl back into talks.

It would be outrageous to put public servants in the position of choosing between the needs of their dependants and their conditions of service in a ballot.

Vital services to the public are being further endangered by these talks. Conditions of service, pay and pensions of public servants are in imminent danger from these talks.

NPSA , in the context of compliance by government with existing agreements, has no difficulty with real negotiations on changes in the public service with public sector employers based on the merits of these changes.

Conference expressed solidarity with our colleagues in the Passport office in their fight to resist additional workloads for a pay cut.

Conference welcomed the formation of new regional branches in recent weeks in Co Donegal, Co Louth, Co Carlow, Co Wicklow, North Kildare in addition to the Dublin and Co Kerry branches formed earlier. Martin O Grady (Co Kerry PSWA) impressed on conference to intensify pressure on politicians at their clinics in the coming weeks.

Conference also called on Government to restore cuts in social welfare and to stop attacking the poor.

Lack of Accountability of Public Service Negotiating Committee and of General Secretaries

The authorisation given to ICTU to offer the Transformation Agenda to government last December by General Secretaries raises serious issues of accountability. Many union executives and all branches of unions were not consulted in advance.Pat Cahill, former President of ASTi, advised union activists to address accountability deficits in their unions as a matter of urgency.

Most union executives have not been consulted on offers to government in current talks!!!

Paddy Healy Chair NPSA 086-4183732
paddy.healy@eircom.net