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TRADE UNIONS presenting public workers have dismissed suggestions from transport minister Leo Varadkar that any follow-up to the Croke Park Agreement should allow the enforcement of compulsory redundancies.
Varadkar yesterday suggested that the current deal had shortcomings, in that it required other parts of the public service to accommodate employees from other defunct quangos or agencies.
“One thing I think we do need to be able to do is compulsory redundancies, where you close down an agency for example,” the minister said on RTÉ’s Today with Pat Kenny.
Because employees could not be laid off, he said, “You save a bit, but not what you should be saving.”
The basis of the Croke Park deal, which runs until 2014, is that employees are protected from any compulsory redundancy, in exchange for agreeing to greater flexibility and cost-saving measures.
SIPTU vice-president Patricia King told TheJournal.ie that Varadkar’s comments illustrated a lack of understanding about the current deal, which was geared at ensuring greater fluidity of staff within the public payroll.
“The natural wastage and normal exits out of the public service, without any further employment, are being used as a tool to contain the numbers,” she said this morning.
There is no need for compulsory redundancy… the whole background of the Croke Park agreement, which he [Varadkar] clearly doesn’t understand, is to develop an integrated public service.If you’re working in Agency A and it has to disappear, your skills and attributes… will then be utilised in another organisation. So instead of having to fill a gap and take in someone without experience, the corporate memory and skills and attributes are retained.
Varadkar’s comments, King said, ran “completely contrary to the ethos and theory” of the public service, and agreed that any government proposal to allow for compulsory redundancies would be a red-line issue for
Niall Shanahan, a spokesman for IMPACT, said the comments were “a bit of a red herring”.
“I’d be very surprised if compulsory redundancies were right at the top of the priority list” when the next deal was being negotiated, he said.
“Over the lifetime of the Croke Park agreement, we’ll see around 40,000 people come out of the public sector,” he said, adding that the “mass hysteria” surrounding the scale of public service retirements in February showed the concerns that surrounded any understaffing in the public sector.
“What the Croke Park agreement facilitates is keeping the services going as people leave the system,” Shanahan said.
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In fairness he is right. My dealings with a particular section of the public sector was joke. How one of these people got jobs in the first place is beyond me.
Have to agree with you there, I work in the public sector and have to say there’s a lot of people that wouldn’t know the meaning of the word work.
Then again there’s a lot of people who actually do a lot of work. Unlike our over paid TD’s
I am in the public service and have serious issues with Croke park, it is extremly effective… in protecting senior members of the public service who take early retirement and then return to work 2 weeks later with an impressive pension and continue to draw senior staff wages while newly qualified highly educated staff are leaving the country daily.
Compulsory redundancies should definitely be allowed to happen. The smoke and dagger machinery of the unions is hiding the reality of no change where it’s needed in the public service. Making people work more for the same. Like we do in the private sector.
Wage cuts would be far more beneficial Alan! I don’t think this crowd of chances in charge will have the courage to go down that road though!
Turkey logic, playing right into the hands of FG-IBEC.
Private sector and public sector have the same interests in maintaining pay, conditions, and rights. It is the interests of our wealthy elite, and the Varadkars of this world who suck up to them, to divide people who work (or want to work) for a living.
Wage cuts? Maybe in some cases, but that would kill the economy even more if people on relatively low wages had them cut even further. But, changes in how people work is needed. So those on less than 35 hours a week, go straight to 40 hours a week. Getting the unions to refuse to represent workers who are complaining about being asked to do more work (I know this happens for a fact – Manager asks employee to do more, employee goes to union to complain about bullying, manager gets threatening letter from union).
Lots of people work hard, but there’s a lot of coasters in the public sector who will never try to improve. Bonuses based on productivity and individual reviews would help a lot there.
Agreed Alan. Not often i support Vradkar, but if you are closing down a segment of your business that is no longer required, and you do not have openings in another department, then logic says that you make the tough decision and let the excess staff go. Moving those employees into another area where they are not needed makes absolutely no economic sense. If they have gaps in another area, then thats a different story.
I cant believe we are even having this discussion, redundancies should not only be allowed they should be compulsory. Less taxes are collect which means less services provided, which I would have thought would meant the need for less people, or am I missing a trick. Provide essential services first but I can wait an extra day for my passport.
Leo Varadkar is away in another planet, stick to busses and cars Leo
Jason, most public sector workers voted Yes. There wouldn’t be the current CPA without massive borrowing from the troika. And no access to the ESM would mean a hell of a lot of redundancies in the PS overnight.
Neil, are you referring to the CPA or fiscal compact treaty when you claim most public sector workers voted yes?
Varadker biting his lip to stop himself from laughing.
A hundred grand a year
plus 60 grand ”expenses”
plus a huge state pension.
Plus, plus, plus,
Ha Ha Ha
Yesterdays Fool
You dont think Leo Wonker has wanted to do this all along?
He’s a wannabe Tory Thatcherite through and through
Varadkar is such a gaffe prone liability. He should be banned from getting in front of a camera.
Oh no, he should be left where he is as a shining example of this current Governments ability to do anything.
There is ‘no logic’ in a redundancy scheme that is self-selected by staff and sees ‘key’ staff rehired. No company would survive such a redundancy scheme. The ministers overseeing the scheme and Croke Farce both have valuable commercial training as teachers and lifelong professional politicians…
Start straight away by getting rid of government advisiors and PR companies
Including the one who chairs RTE…
Could someone break the unions maybe?
It’s simple, we rustle their jimmies.
It was tried in 1913 if you want to live in state with no unions you’ll find a few nth korea and china spring too mind any employment legislation is there because off unions not ?caring” employers in fact even employers have unions now ISME and IBEC whose in your corner or got your your rights
Only for the unions the poor would be poorer.
So the options are:
1. A Unions led agenda.
2. North Korea and poverty.
Not hysterical at all then.
Hysteria I’ll leave too you, terrible when people just don’t know their place they should all roll over and be glad of pickings left on the table of their betters sorry I’ll be good from now on
All I’m saying is that breaking the stranglehold of the unions needn’t end up with mass poverty and North Korea.
The world isn’t black and white. It isn’t one thing or another.
Unions can still protect their members and fight for workers rights generally without creating a situation where all rules of employment are driven by their agenda.
Saying that if the union stranglehold was broken we’d end up like North Korea is simple scaremongering hysteria.
Maybe you should actually read what I said,
Where are the UNIONS who are actually realistic and fair!!! The SIPTU group make me sick, constantly (try) defending their members crazy allowances and the alike!!! They should just hear them self’s after each interview and they would actually cringe, how do they sleep at night is beyond me!!!
Compulsory redundancy is a MUST in public sector, you should always know as an employee that if you don’t perform you are not of any benefit to the company and therefore good bye!!! The attitude of some public sector staff is appalling towards public because they know they can not be sacked and what’s even worst is they are giving all the other good honest public sector workers a very bad name!!
I hope this includes government ministers and their overpaid advisors. I am a public servant as is my partner. Both our pay has been cut by 17%. 34% gone from my household (but everyone thinks I am rolling in it because we are both public servants). Staff numbers in our workplace are hugely down. Constantly over stretched resulting in bad service to the public. You try worrying about that varadker and then be have some lamp cause you more stress by spouting about compulsory redundancy.
I notice that maths isn’t one of your strong skills. Work for the Department of Finance by any chance!
Alan, 17% gone from you and 17% from your partner is 17% gone from your household income, not 34%…….
Exaggerating does not help convince people of your case for hardship.
Alan just to point out if both of your pay is cut by 17%, it means that the families income has been reduced by 17% not 34%…i do think that lower paid public servants get the raw end of the stick though most undeservedly :(
Actually at a time when we need to have the most effective possible leadership, I’m more than happy for the government to have top-notch advisors.
Herr Gilmore must be doing back summersaults with rage that his core voter base could be eroded further.
No better man than Leo to trot out what his dear leader is thinking privately
It is about time that the Unions have said NO to something ! Leo and Gilmore will start blaming each other now, just wait and see….
Normally he’s only let out at weekends when everyone’s distracted. Yes, stick to your remit Leo, not a great fan of Heath Ministers sound-biting on Finance and Arts and crafts offering advice on health. We pay each individual department enough money to get on with the job – so we should be hearing from them – if there back from Poland that is.
18 billion annual deficit means we will run out of money to maintain public sector pay at present levels. It is simple mathematics and only a matter of time.
He is a idiot who thinks we’re all idiots but the thing is he has got power and god knows he is prob being lined up to take over from ends be afraid people
Whatever he is, he isn’t an idiot.
Oh yes hes an Idiot and a bully.
Here we get the same mantra.nUnions ruining this country.nNo respect in the workplace.nWhich is it?nBoth actually.nWe have militant unions and we have employers like Ryanair paying cabin crew €5 / hour. Where is the union there when we need one?nWe need to get the balance and until we get sensible legislation we will get people on the shaft or be shafted side and a public that can’t see the difference.
Redundancies of staff that no longer have an effective role is critical in maintaining an effective PS. Running alongside hiring and retraining appropriate staff to take on positions to improve sector productivity. Unions need to get behind a methodological approach to reducing cost and improving productivity instead of just being belligerent.
Yes Deborah, if only there was something for unions to get behind which would reduce costs and improve productivity. Some sort of an agreement. Maybe negotiated in a large sporting facility whos name the agreement could share…..
Labour principles on there website are – Freedom, Equality, Community and Democracy. Core voters recognise none of this in current policy; and are defecting to Sli Nios Fearr where they believe they can get back to the basics of an equitable and enterprising society.
Would it not be better to offer voluntary redundancies througout the civil service and then reassign those in the quangos to the vacancies.
I see your point but the People in the quangos may may not have the skills or training to suit the positions left by voluntary redundancy, meaning more cost and disruption to retrain them.
Redundancies need to be targeted to minimize the impact on services.
Redundancy is painful and stressful, but the good of the country has to come first.
Turkeys not voting for Christmas shocker
True indeed TT. Wonder why I forgot about that, perhaps it is a tad one sided !!
The system is in melt down; the governance model of the upside down pyramid is rife. We have to start making reform cuts from the top down – not the other way ! ! ! I’d rather be looked after by a Nurse, than suit with a pen . . . I’d rather see half the TD’s and half the pensions. But we can keep on saying this again, and again, and again, and again, and again – every day, and each day, but what are we going to do about it. ? We have to create a cogent alternative – and I am
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