The leader of the country’s largest public sector union has said that the Government is facing “a potentially explosive situation” following the introduction of pay cuts in the Budget for staff on the State’s payroll.
Speaking today Peter McLoone, the general secretary of Impact and the chairman of the Public Services Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions said that trust had effectively broken down between unions and the Government and that there was no basis that the parties would be able to go back into discussions in the short term.
Mr McLoone told RTE’s “This Week” programme that he could not rule out the possibility of all-out strikes as the reaction from members to the pay cuts was very strong.
He also indicated that public sector workers would no longer be prepared to engage with the Government on reforms along the lines of those proposed in the talks on an alternative for reducing the public sector pay bill without cutting pay rates.
The Government rejected the unions’ proposals including the controversial 12-days unpaid leave arrangement – earlier this month.
“The problem we have to recognise now the ambitions for the reforms I have been talking about for six months now lie in tatters. We need to understand that the reason for that is that the people who work to provide public services are angry, upset and very hurt at the way the Government walked away from these negotiations at the last minute”.
“I think we are now dealing with a potentially explosive situation. We must recognise is that the main reason for that is that over 250,000 people in the public services whose earnings a year ago were €60,000 gross or less will have taken a 13 per cent enforced pay cut in ten months”, he said.
Mr McLoone said that the conditions no longer existed in which he had a workforce that “will be up for engaging in transformation”.
“I do not think there is going to be any stomach or enthusiasm for engaging with transformation. I sense that the reaction is such that people will want to withhold co-operation from change because they are very angry and upset that they are taking these pay cuts”, he said.
The public sector trade unions are expected to set out their response later in the week to the Government’s decision to introduce pay cuts.
Cabinet ministers had indicated last week that if public sector reform was not introduced that further cuts in pay could be on the agenda for next year.
Impact at the weekend suggested that there could be selective strike action with the possibility of a wide-scale strike at a later date.
Separately, the Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) said a programme of industrial action up to and including strike action would be developed, preferably with the other teacher and public service unions.
The national executive of the Psychiatric Nurses Association has also backed full and continuous strike action as part of a campaign against the cuts.
The national executive of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions is expected to consider the issue on Wednesday.
