Updated 5.15pm
SEVEN UNIONS HAVE now rejected the Croke Park II proposals on public sector pay and reform.
The Irish Federation of University Teachers this afternoon announced its members had rejected the proposals by a margin of three to one.
Earlier the Civil Public and Services Union (CPSU) rejected the proposals as did the Association of Higher Civil and Public Servants (ACHPS) which voted 85 per cent No to the agreement.
Those three unions join the craft workers union, UCATT, as well as the Teachers’ Union of Ireland, the Technical Engineering and Electrical Union, and Medical Laboratory Scientists Association in rejecting the deal.
The entire deal now hinges on the verdict of the two largest trade unions in the country, SIPTU and IMPACT, which are expected to announce the results of their ballots in the next two days.
Results from the Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO), the Public Service Executive Union (PSEU) and the Prison Officers’ Association (POA) will also be needed to ensure that the proposals are accepted overall by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU).
Earlier, two unions representing builders and plasterers voted to accept the proposals.
The Building and Allied Trades Union (BATU) and the Operative Plasterers and Allied Trades Society of Ireland (OPATSI) both confirmed today that they voted in favour of the deal.
Speaking to TheJournal.ie, Greg Macken, Secretary of the public service branch of BATU, which represents about 125 workers in the construction industry, said the union voted in favour of the deal “because of the job security it offers”.
“In the environment we’re in at the present moment that’s important but as well as that the basic pay hasn’t been touched,” he said. “We wouldn’t say it’s a good deal but in the current climate it’s the best deal we can get that we would be able to take control of,” he added.
Macken said he expects the results of all of the votes will see the deal pass but that he expects it will pass by a “small majority”. “We’re just waiting now because the big guns have still to cast their votes,” he said.
Billy Wall of OPATSI, which represents 75 workers, said that the agreement would have “no big hit” for members and would in fact result in an increase in annual leave from 23 days to 25.
“It’s not a bad deal for our members, I’d rather say that than it’s a good deal and I understand where other workers are in other sectors,” he said. “But in the first deal our members were decimated and I didn’t see the UNITE or the IMO coming out because plasters were being affected.”
Wall said he felt that the government had “split unions in all different ways”.
“I honestly don’t know if it’ll pass now – a month ago I would have thought it would have but we have unions standing on different sides and even the leadership of unions saying one thing and members saying another,” he said.
ICTU’s Public Services Committee meets on Wednesday where the results from each union will be taken into consideration and weighted according to their size of their membership to produce a result either accepting or rejecting the proposals.
- additional reporting from Hugh O’Connell
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