MORE than 2,000 Government offices and 350 Garda stations across the State will be affected by a half day stoppage by civil servants on February 21st. The strike is in protest at the public sector recruitment embargo.
The civil servants are members' of the Civil and Public Service Union, which announced the results of its strike ballot yesterday Of an unusually high 80 per cent poll, more than 75 per cent supported strike action.
Afterwards the CPSU general, secretary, Mr John O'Dowd, described the result as "a comprehensive rejection of the embargo by the key frontline service delivery staff".
The embargo would make the delivery of a top quality service to the public impossible, Mr O'Dowd said.
"We cannot accept that lower paid staff are asked to do the work of higher paid colleagues who have left the service and not been replaced."
He also expressed concern that the embargo, announced by the Minister for Finance, Mr Quinn, last December would block off promotional opportunities for thousands of clerical assistants. These are on the lowest rung of the promotional ladder, with maximum pay of £230 a week.
Of 8,399 CPSU members who voted, 6,352 supported strike action. The vote also reflects disillusion among CPSU members over the lack of progress in pay talks under the Programme for Competitiveness and Work.
The union is holding a special delegate conference on February 24th to discuss further industrial action on this issue.