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Taoiseach Brian Cowen, with the Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan at the Annual Fianna Fail Wolfe Tone commemoration in Bodenstown, Co. Kildare, Oct 18, 2009. |
On Tuesday, as public sector staff in the Republic of Ireland held a national strike and shops in Newry had a bonanza, as civil servants headed across the border in search of Christmas bargains, trade union leaders confirmed that they will hold a second strike on December 3rd, unless agreement is reached in negotiations with the Government.
Up to 250,000 teachers, nurses and other public sector workers went on strike in protest against a cut in public pay that is expected to be announced on Budget Day, December 9th. The strikers who headed to Northern Ireland to do Christmas shopping, were a boost for the British Exchequer.
The managers of shopping centres on the northern side of the border said business was similar to weekend or pre-Christmas peaks.
VIDEO: Brendan Wright reported on RTÉ's News that there was a five-mile tailback into Newry as some people spent their day off cross-border shopping
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, held by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) public services committee, Peter McLoone, general secretary of Impact trade union, said “it would be necessary to agree some temporary measures to cut payroll costs in 2010 because reforms were unlikely to deliver the necessary savings before 2011.”
Trade unions will today hold talks with the Government on an alternative agreement to reduce the public sector pay bill by €1.3 billion without cutting pay levels.
If the talks fail, the second 24-hour stoppage around the country tomorrow week, on December 3rd.
According to the recently published Pre-Budget Outlook, taxes are back to 2003 levels while current spending is up more than 70%.
Achieving savings from agreed reform measures will be very difficult to quantify and would likely end up as a fudge with no discernible cash benefit.
An average 9% special "benchmarking" pay increase was made from 2004, but promised productivity increases were based on aspirations.
The unions are now reported to be hoping to get agreement on "a public service transformation programme," which would involve significant reductions in numbers and new work practice reforms.
The options for so-called “bridging measures” for 2010 include:
- Paying overtime at flat rates rather than time-and-a-half;
- Introducing an 8am-8pm core day during which no overtime payments would apply;
- Introduction of unpaid leave, perhaps as much as 12 days per year;
- The possibility of staff working a small number of additional hours per week;
- The elimination of privilege days at Christmas and Easter.
According to a report by the Comptroller & Auditor General last month, sick leave has jumped since the 1980's in the Irish civil service with the absence rate rising from 3.3% to almost 5% of available working time, which was lost to sickness absence in 2007. On average, 59% of all staff employed availed of sick leave in that year. The average employee was absent, on average, for over 11 days, in addition to paid holidays.
Three quarters of all Clerical Officers availed of sick leave.
Speaking during a special Dáil debate on Tuesday, Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan, said his department had estimated the cost of living for working households had dropped by 7.5% over the past year.
The Irish Examiner says in an editorial today, titled Public sector strike - Day of action becomes day of cheap beer: "So, not only have these people a delusional sense of entitlement they have now shown that they have no understanding of economic patriotism either.
Treason is not a word that should be used lightly but, in this instance, the phrase economic treason is entirely appropriate. This act of gross selfishness is so far removed from the communal response we need to resolve our difficulties that it will remove any doubts Government may have retained about introducing pay cuts.
The 440,000 or so people unemployed - - over 22 million across the EU - - could only look on with what must have been a combination of anger, amazement and considerable envy.
At virtually every opportunity strikers said that they were not going to be 'scapegoated.'
If this wasn’t so very serious, so very tragic and delusional it would be funny. The real scapegoats are the 440,000 people without a job; the families fighting to hold onto their homes; the farmers facing bankruptcy; the graduates who have to emigrate and the retail workers whose jobs are threatened by those who shop in the North to save a few miserable euro.
State employees who enjoy job security, pensions and wages far better than private sector counterparts cannot in any way be described as scapegoats. It is to their shame that they imagine themselves so. It is to their unions leaders’ great shame that they exploit this fantasy."
Further background information from Finfacts articles:
Sick leave in Irish civil service almost doubled since 1980s; Average employee absent for over 11 days in 2007
National Strike: Wealthy Irish trade union leaders should give priority to misery of unemployed and flood victims
The 2001 economic consensus that paved the road to economic ruin
Irish Central Bank declared its impotence before launch of the euro; Why Spain's biggest banks survived huge housing boom
IBEC delivers Irish tribal conservatism not needed radicalism
ICTU calls for return to 1980s era Irish income tax rates with combined top rate of 65%
Ireland: A "smart" economy in food better than pie-in-the-sky aspirations?- - including how New Zealand uses home advantage to sustain its position, as the world leader in the international trade of dairy products.
National Employment Survey: CSO says Irish public sector/private sector pay premium was 19.1% in 2007 for comparable jobs
Public sector economists confirm Irish public service pay benchmarking was a sham; Premium on private pay increased dramatically from 9.7 to 21.6% between 2003 and 2006
Irish average earnings in 2007 were at €37,726; Pay at ESB and Bord Gáis at €71,572; Public/private gap was 48% ex-pensions
Lenihan says total cost of State pension for an Irish public sector worker hired after 2004 is 26.1% of pay
IBEC calls for ending of pay parity link in Irish public sector pensions that gives them a six-star standard status
Where is the Outrage? Gombeenism thrives at home while in Paris, OECD staff work on proposals for Irish public service reform - - article following recommendation that Ireland's Cabinet be the best paid in Europe. Recommendations for 1,600 senior staff in the public service were for minimum pay hikes of 14%. Pensions for 2 retired Dublin City Managers jumped 36% because of the direct link with pay of incumbent.
