FÁS head office staff vote for industrial action

Staff at the FÁS head office in Dublin have voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action over plans to decentralise them to Co Offaly.

Some 87 per cent of staff at the State training and employment agency headquarters voted in favour of the action in protest at Government plans to move them to Birr.

Siptu branch secretary Greg Ennis said he would be seeking sanction from the union for industrial action immediately. "I expect to serve strike notice within the next few days," he said.

The new FÁS head office is in the constituency of Minister of State for the OPW Tom Parlon, who is overseeing the decentralistion programme.

So far, only 51 of over 400 staff have applied for a transfer. Siptu said that of those 51, 23 are new recruits.

Mr Ennis claimed FÁS has introduced new contracts for recruits which require them to agree to decentralisation before being employed.

The Labour Court ruled last month that FAS had breached procedures consultation procedures regarding decentralisation. The court ruled that relocation must be on a voluntary basis.

"The Government is entitled to decentralise services, even if it makes no business sense, but exercises in political expediency cannot be bulldozed through in this way, regardless of the human consequences," said Mr Ennis.

In a statement this afternoon, Mr Parlon urged all parties to follow the recent recommendation of the Labour Court and engage in consultation.

"Such discussion would allow the issues to be teased out with a view to arriving at agreed long-term solutions," he said. "I strongly urge the full utilisation of the existing industrial relations structures by all the parties involved and believe that this represents the best way forward."