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2009

Unions say Government has turned its back on public service transformation

Date Released: 04 Dec 2009

The ICTU Public Services Committee today accused the Government of turning its back on a deal that would have delivered a massive transformation in the delivery of public services, met the Government’s required reductions in 2010 payroll costs, and avoided a second public service pay cut in less than a year.

The unions said the deal abandoned by the Government would have saved billions of Euro while protecting – and in some cases extending – public services as resources and staff numbers declined over the next four years.

While the Government’s ongoing recruitment embargo delivered massive permanent savings, the deal between unions and government officials – now rejected by the Taoiseach – would have seen:

  • No reduction in any services as a result of the temporary unpaid leave measure
  • A guarantee of “no impact on the length and structure of the school year or class contact” and an additional working hour by every teacher each week
  • Explicit agreement on the redeployment of civil and public servants within and between organisations to ensure better delivery of priority services as budgets and staffing declined
  • A process aimed at delivering an extended 8-8 working day in the health services, leading to longer opening hours
  • The introduction of new rosters in health - including the introduction of new nursing rosters by January 2011 – leading to more flexible services and a further reduced overtime budget
  • Ongoing reductions in the number of in-patient beds and increases in day care, outpatient and diagnostic capacity, in order to provide faster access to services at lower cost
  • A greater range of health services in community settings so that more patients could receive treatment at home
  • Reviews of health service staffing ratios and skills mixes to help improve patient care at minimal cost
  • New value-for money and waste elimination programmes
  • The introduction of shared services in health, local authorities, education and the civil services – in areas like finance, procurement, human resources and payroll
  • The introduction of evidence-based performance measurement in health
  • The extension of competitive and merit-based promotions at all levels throughout the public services
  • Multi-disciplinary working and reporting arrangements in health
  • The supervision and substitution scheme for post primary teacher to be made more flexible
  • New procedures for redeploying surplus teachers
  • A review of the teaching contract to remove impediments to teaching and learning
  • A comprehensive review and revision of special needs assistant employment terms and conditions to identify and remove any impediments to efficient and effective support for students with special care needs
  • Cooperation with the restructuring and rationalisation of the VEC sector
  • Cooperation with rationalisation of state agencies in the local government sector
  • Better management and standardisation of annual and sick leave arrangements
  • Changes to civil service opening and closing times and attendance arrangements
  • The further development of on-line and e-services

The deal would also have included a new ‘transformation commission’ with independent leadership, charged with ensuring the implementation of the package.

Temporary savings measures – necessary because the transformation programme would not have delivered the required permanent savings in 2010 - were also on the table to ensure the necessary payroll savings in 2010. The savings would have come from an agreed progressive valuation of 12 days unpaid leave.

The Government confirmed to unions on Tuesday (December 1) that it would do a deal based primarily on temporary unpaid leave once unions and management agreed to implement it in ways that avoided reductions in services. Agreement between unions and Government officials was subsequently reached in negotiations since Tuesday and at no stage did the Government side seek an alternative approach.

ICTU Public Services Committee chairperson Peter McLoone said the Government had abandoned a revolutionary approach to public service reform in favour of conflict. He said he now believed Finance Minister Brian Lenihan would likely carry out his threat to impose a second public service pay cut in next week’s Budget, as a prelude to a concerted attack on pay rates across the economy – starting with the minimum wage.

Mr. McLoone said it was now inconceivable that public servants would rally to public service reform after the Government had reneged on a deal and imposed pay cuts, which could total as much as 15% in less than a year. “The Government has rejected the prize of radical public service transformation with better services and billions in savings. We have reached an agreement that would have delivered this transformation with permanent savings, temporary measures to ensure the necessary payroll savings in 2010, and no reduction in services. But the Government has walked away. We are now going to see conflict instead of co-operation with change,” he said.

Most of the unions involved in the negotiations have mandates for industrial action if the Government proceeds to introduce compulsory redundancies or cut pay rates or pension entitlements.





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