THE INTRODUCTION of a compulsory unpaid leave arrangement for staff in the public service next year is emerging as a central feature of any alternative deal between unions and the Government for reducing the public sector pay bill without across-the-board pay cuts.
Talks between Government officials and the public sector unions on such an alternative plan are expected to intensify over the weekend. If the talks fail, a further national stoppage by public service unions is scheduled for Thursday.
The parties are expected to begin considering in detail today proposals for reducing the pay bill for next year.
Highly placed sources close to the process said last night that it was now envisaged “a significant block of savings” could be generated by means of having staff take time off without pay as a temporary measure next year.
In a separate development, The Irish Times understands that yesterday the Government invited the representative bodies for gardaí and members of the Defence Forces to take part in parallel talks at Government Buildings over the weekend.
These organisations are not represented at the talks between the Government and the public sector unions.
Yesterday, the Department of Justice circulated a document to the Garda associations setting out proposed reforms in the areas of training, deployment and rostering.
It is understood that the Department of Defence is also preparing a reform document to be submitted to the military representative bodies over the weekend.
Regarding the move on unpaid leave for workers in the public service, sources said that a considerable amount of work would have to be done to determine how much such a scheme would generate in savings overall and how it would affect the operation of services for the public.
Highly-placed sources said that in areas where unpaid leave was not a realistic option due to the number of staff involved or because of the implications for services, other measures would have to be considered for the personnel concerned.
Such options include restricting the hours for which premium payments apply or scaling back overtime rates.
Trade union leaders acknowledged publicly for the first time last Tuesday that temporary measures which would reduce public sector earnings next year would be necessary if across-the board pay cuts were to be avoided.
It is understood that under any alternative plan all groups of workers in the public service would have to make a contribution.
The details of the amount of unpaid leave that staff would be obliged to take next year under any such alternative agreement has not been decided. There has been speculation in recent days that it could involve 12-14 days per year.
The introduction of compulsory unpaid leave would effectively represent a reduction in earnings for staff – some unions estimate that it means a 2 per cent cut for every five days of unpaid leave. However, the nominal pensionable pay of workers would remain the same.
The trade unions have suggested that while “temporary measures” may have to be introduced for next year, these could be later replaced by other savings generated by means of a major transformation programme in the public service which would come into effect from 2011.
This transformation programme would involve a significant reduction in the numbers employed, and the introduction of significant reforms and work practice changes.
Over recent days, the talks centred largely on the size and scale of the public service envisaged by the Government in the years ahead and what this would mean for staff.
Further Government documents covering proposed reforms in the areas of the Civil Service, health, local authorities and education are expected to be tabled today before the process moves on to considering temporary measures to reduce costs in 2010.