LOWER-PAID staff in the Civil Service who are members of the CPSU have given enough under the Croke Park agreement and will give no more, the outgoing president of the union has said.
In his presidential address to the conference yesterday, Denis Walshe said: “We will not put up with any more nonsense.”
He said the union would not accept any changes to current pay patterns, would not tolerate reforms to the performance management appraisal system in the Civil Service and would defend members who currently received increments from any plan to cut them.
Mr Walshe said whatever the outcome of the referendum on the fiscal treaty, “we in the CPSU will no longer tolerate being made beggars”.
He said the Government should tell the troika “where to get off”.
“I have to say that I have a soft spot for the troika. It is face down in the Bog of Allan.”
Mr Walshe also criticised current arrangements for redeploying staff under the provisions of the Croke Park agreement. This permits staff to be moved to locations up to 45km from their current workplace.
He said the union would not accept the forced movement of members to any location that was unreasonable or in cases where the transfer presented a case of real hardship.
He said Department of Agriculture staff in Raphoe, Co Donegal, were being asked to move 45km in a geographical area where there was no public transport.
“One member does not have access to a car and they want him to move. Where is the humanity in all of this?” He said the redeployment could cost members €90 a week or more in transport costs.
He criticised the rehiring of senior managerial staff in the Civil Service, who left under recent retirement arrangements, to carry out special project work on top of their pensions.
Clerical officers and staff officers “who actually do the daily work are never replaced”.
