THE Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation has warned that it will pull out of the corporatist Croke Park talks if the Government does not drop its high-handed dictatorial agenda to cut pay.
General Secretary Liam Doran said his mandate is to remain in the talks to await further clarification from management as to their proposals to remove an additional 1bn euros from the public sector pay bill.
However, he said the INMO executive would meet at short notice if required if the management agenda remained unchanged.
At that point, he said, the decision they would make would be self-evident and they would pull out of the talks.
Doran said they would take every action necessary to protect all elements of their members’ pay – including core salary, allowances and other premium payments.
The INMO will join other unions representing front line public servants including prison officers, gardaí and firemen today to formulate a collective approach to the Croke Park process.
The largest public sector union, IMPACT, has warned its members that the government will not sign up to a new deal protecting them from cuts in core pay or compulsory redundancies without an element of additional working hours.
The Labour Relations Commission faces a major challenge to meet the government’s deadline of a deal by the end of February.
The Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors as well as the Garda Representative Association (GRA) have already refused to engage in the negotiations aimed at securing an additional 1bn euros of cuts in the public sector pay bill.
GRA President John Parker said pay cuts and changes in the terms and conditions of its members would be met with some form of industrial action.
Parker said that such changes would breach the terms of the Croke Park Agreement, and would negate the protection offered under the agreement against industrial action.
In the case of Croke Park blowing up, Parker said the protections contained within the agreement would expire.
Parker said morale in the force was at an all-time low, and that this was reflected in the murmurs about a blue flu outbreak coming from rank and file gardaí.
SIPTU has warned its public service members that government negotiators are prepared to unilaterally implement cuts in pay and pensions and review their position on the Croke Park Agreement if a negotiated settlement is not reached.
Union negotiators Patricia King, Paul Bell and Gene Mealy say the government has indicated that its preferred option is to achieve an additional 1bn euros in payroll savings by negotiation.
However, they also say that, in the event of failure, the government would be prepared to unilaterally implement cuts, and review their position in relation to the Croke Park Agreement.
They say the management agenda outlines initial areas targeted for savings, including increased working hours, ‘downward adjustments’ of overtime and premium payments, outsourcing of work, and revised re-deployment and exit arrangements.
SIPTU officials conclude by noting that the negotiations will be ‘very challenging’.
They stress that no agreement has been reached on any matter tabled by management, adding that it is by no means clear at this stage that any agreement can be reached.
SIPTU is urging workers, their families and community organisations to turn out in large numbers in Dublin on Saturday, 9th February, to protest against being saddled with 64 billion euros of debt that belongs to the banks.
The Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors as well as the Garda Representative Association have already refused to engage in the negotiations aimed at securing an additional 1bn euros cut in the public sector pay bill.
Cork City gardai have already voted in favour of industrial action.
While it is illegal for gardai to go on an all-out strike, they could conduct a work-to-rule campaign, call in sick en masse – catching the so-called ‘blue flu’. The Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) pulled out of talks a week and a half ago over a successor to the Croke Park Agreement when it was confirmed that cuts to allowances for working nights, weekends and bank holidays was on the table.
The Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors has said that members will be marching in Saturday’s anti-austerity march organised by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions.
