Workers in public sector on 'war footing' over pay cuts

ANGRY PUBLIC service workers working in “frontline” services as nurses, gardaí, soldiers and fire fighters warned the Government last night that they were on “a war footing” in the fight against further pay cuts.

The anger among public service workers was evident when an estimated 1,500 members of the recently formed Frontline Services Alliance attended a meeting in Sligo to hear their representatives warn that public-service workers  would not become scapegoats for the “failures of bankers, regulators and the Department of Finance”.

The organisers of the first of a series of regional meetings had expected  a crowd of about 400 but hundreds of workers were forced to stand outside the packed conference centre during the meeting.

David Hughes, deputy general secretary of the Irish Nurses Organisation, called for unity among PAYE workers in the public and private sectors, who he said should take to the streets as they had in the 1980s to press for a fairer tax system.

Another speaker, Joe Dirwan, general secretary of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors, said there was no conflict between public and private sector workers.

He said the meeting had been called to hear the views of some of the 100,000 shift workers  who run the State’s accident and emergency departments, who look after prisoners and who attend at horrific car crashes.

One of several speakers to condemn calls in the McCarthy report  for an end to allowances for shift workers, he asked: “Has Mr McCarthy ever worked shifts? Has he ever worn a stab-proof vest. Has he attended a house fire and carried out the remains of the victims.”

Union leaders pointed out that weekend premiums and allowances  being targeted by the McCarthy report account for as much as 22 per cent of pay.

“We feel we are being unfairly targeted,” said Des Kavanagh, general secretary of the Psychiatric Nurses Association, who chaired the  meeting. “Public servants who earn €45,000 have already lost €4,500 – compared to €1,400 for those in the private sector on the same wage”.

Louise O’Reilly, Siptu’s national nursing officer, said that following a spate of levies it would be “intolerable” if those working in frontline emergency service were to be put under further financial pressure as they battle to pay mortgages.

“The Government moved heaven and earth to protect the banks and the wealthy. They can now move heaven and earth to ensure there will be somebody there when you diall 999. Jack O’Connor said we are on a war footing and he is right. People are angry and won’t take any more”.