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THE CROKE PARK extension talks continue, despite a warning from the INMO to its members on Monday that there was a risk of them breaking down.
In a letter to its members on Monday, the INMO’s General Secretary, Liam Doran, called the initial agenda tabled by the management side “draconian”.
The talks took place yesterday and Monday, and will continue tomorrow. The discussions are between the public sector unions including the INMO, and public sector management, on behalf of government.
At yesterday’s discussions, senior staff from the Labour Relations Commission were also in attendance to facilitate the process going forward.
At the same meeting, it was agreed that the management side would make sectoral presentations on Thursday morning.
Presentations
Doran told INMO members following the meeting:
In these presentations (health, education, civil service, local authority) it is expected that the management side will begin to elaborate on the high level agenda they initially presented at yesterday’s meeting.
It is expected that this will clarify whether the management agenda is, in any way, compatible with the public service unions’ position with regard to the protections (pay/compulsory redundancies) given under the Croke Park Agreement.
He added that the public sector unions have agreed to meet collectively on Thursday afternoon, to assess and analyse what the management will have said in the morning.
This should allow a decision to be made as to whether the process can continue with any chance of an overall agreement emerging. In this context it is expected that Thursday’s deliberations will be important and will determine, at least in the short term, whether the overall process can continue.
In a letter to INMO members on Monday, Doran said that the major changes the management side sought, according to their initial presentation, “could not form the basis of any agreement” arising from the discussions.
He said that if management continue to hold this position, there is “very little prospect” of a negotiated outcome leading to proposals that could be balloted on.
The management agenda was described as “draconian”, with members told that it was possible discussions “could break down at a very early stage”.
Yesterday, UNITE vowed to oppose public sector cuts at talks.
At these talks, the Government is seeking savings of €1 billion over three years, by agreeing on significant changes to working conditions and pay in the public sector.
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I’m a public servant, I work 40 hours a week, I’m glad I have a job .. I earn under 30k a year and I’m 9 months in arrears on my mortgage, we need to weed out the highly paid waste but please don’t tar us all with the same brush .. This government want to divide n conquer , public vs private sectors , our true enemy is the dail and our warped banks .
Private would stand side by side with public if yous actually stood up against the very waste ans imcompetance instead of accepting it in the hope that someday it could be you with te cushy number they have
Jay that comment is simply idiotic.
It is not up to the lower paid public servants to get rid of wasteful management and incompetence.
Its not up to you to get rid of them but yet you k ow they are there and conplain because your getting wage cuts while they are sittin back doin sfa if people in my job did nothing ans i was told i was gettin cut the first thing that would come up would be the deadwood but in the ps those jobs are acceptable
Jay management have their own bosses who should be able to identify when they are useless, as a worker I can generalise here about their stupidity but am not qualified to assess how bad they really are, aim your ire at the right people
Im not aiming my anger anywhere my point is dont complain about cost saving cuts to your wage when you accept in efficent wage speds on people who dont work
You get what you deserve if you dont stand up against the waste
Unions bosses in catch 22. Useless incompetent workers still pay their union dues and deserve representation. Not the unions job to weed out the deadwood. Not saying useless incompetents should not be got rid of – they should.
I’d say there must be Olympic levels of posturing going on at that meeting.
I hope the Unions are demanding cuts in politicians, pay/perks/pensions and numbers in return! A politician, getting a pension for life after one term and at pre-retirement ages. Is madness, to say the least and make them have a private pension scheme!
This croke park thing is unfair and we can’t afford it .
There are some exceptions but We should also review every public sector employment position to see if it is actually needed and to weed out anyone who got their job simply cause they had connections with some Fianna Fáil bigwig.
There are civil servants that do FA and are just cruising to retirement, on good wages and great pensions. Can’t be sacked even though they are lazy, incompetent, useless wasters.
Just look at Dublin VEC that won contract to pay students, they failed miserably at fulfilling the terms of the contract, will any be sacked, not a chance!
Pony senior mgt have shown themselves to incompetent, what you suggest should have been done at the start of this crisis
Statements like this coming from a Union leader that allowed the Government to recruit graduate nurses at a much reduced salary, make me sick. It would suit a strong government, if all the unions walked away.
That union leader has always been about feathering his own nest he has sold nurses short time and time again with his posturing to the government. It’s time they voted him out or changed unions.
could someone ell me now much does Mr Doran an all the other unions leaders earn. does any one know?.
Roughly between €100,000-€150,000 standard for top union officials in 2011 the INMO charges its members more than for instance SIPTU and does not give strike pay.
I’ve got no sympathy for unions.
Workers all over the developed world fought long and hard for trade unions and now some of ye want them gone. Have a look at how apple get their products made by Foxconn and watch how the race to the bottom will begin here without unions.
Croke park, bad idea, protects elite staff at the expense of the rest, frontline staff are badly needed, we must protect them , and the background staff that are needs must be protected too, if senior management don’t know who they need, they should be sacked,
Most sensible statement so far(ps frontline myself)
U KNOW THAT WILL NEVER HAPPEN. PEOPLE ON THE FRONT LINE CANT SPEAK OUT AS U WOOD LOOSE UR JOB. SO WHAT CAN THE FRONT LINERS DO?
I strongly feel that we (the people of Ireland) should be asked if we want a “new Croke Park agreement”! Do we want to agree that our taxes should be used in such a seemingly careless way. This “agreement” has been a wonderful thing for civil servants and a disastrously costly one for us, the taxpayer. A REFERENDUM PLEASE!!!
You weren’t given a referendum on 69 billion why would you get one for 1 billion.
As a public sector worker I agree with some of the comments above. Yes weed out the wasters who are there merely for the guaranteed money every week.
Those of us who actually do our jobs shouldn’t be stereotyped with these people or suffer pay cuts because of them.
How can that be done without any cooperation from the unions? In fact there would be direct confrontation to prevent ANY progress in this direction.
Dawn, I have no problem with civil servants that work effectively and honestly, if you are long in CS you must see the lazy and incompetent wasters that hide behind the safety net of unions, these are the ones that drive me nuts.
I have been dealing directly with various branches of CS for years now and the incompetence and arrogance of some state employees is incredible.
Remove the safety net of unsackable employees and dump the deadwood.
We were only talking about this in work. Those of us who actually do our jobs would have no problem with performance related contracts as in you don’t work ya lose your job end off.
I’m in front line services so while we do have some wasters its no where near as bad as other sections of the public service
No one in the public service is unsackable, if you break disciplinary codes you can eventually be sacked if warranted. I think people are confusing redundancy with sacking. It’s currently not possible to make staff redundant but they can always be sacked, once they do something seriously wrong. To make staff redundant you must demonstrate that the work they are doing is no longer required.
Rod, I would like to see somebody that is lazy, inefficient and useless sacked, not laid off.
Remind me again who caused the financial collapse …that’s right the banking and building industry who were both private sector and where have the biggest pay cuts taken place ..that’s right the public sector. Where did all the money go ? Who bought all the mercs yachts coke bling blondes.. That’s right the private sector. And of course we have all forgotten income tax cuts and SSIA . As for waste the stupidity ,greed ,waste and inefficiency of the Irish private sector which while having the lowest corporation tax rate in Europe still could not compete because of their innate corruption overcharging and cartels is without parallel in capitalist history.
Remember it was the state that bailed out the private sector not the other way around.
So all you disgruntled finna failers who are in negative equity because of your greed their is no point blaming guards and nurses for your plight , you brought it on yourself.
Long live the troika.
Brilliantly different view
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