Madam, – The unpaid leave being proposed for the public sector will hopefully apply to all who are paid out of the public purse. Does this mean that the President, an Taoiseach, all Government Ministers and TDs, all councillors and elected public representatives will forego 12 days’ pay and expenses in the coming year? Expenses need to be included, because how can one claim expenses if one is not working? Does this also mean that judges, who claim that their pay cannot be reduced, will be affected or as usually happens, will all the “privileged” aforementioned be exempted? These are matters that need to be clarified before any agreement on such a proposal should be forthcoming. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – €800 million saved during 2010 (maybe). Less than two weeks’ borrowing. May God and/or the International Monetary Fund help us. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – In order to prevent the public service unions going on strike again the Government has given them yet another perk equivalent to one strike a month for the next 12 months. Goodbye Brian, hello International Monetary Fund. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Amid our economic and budgetary confusion, it is important to commend our Government for its new-found clarity on one key matter. It has now made it refreshingly clear who is the real Minister for Finance and prime architect of next week’s budget – Peter McLoone. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – The Government and the unions seem almost in agreement that public servants should take 12 days unpaid leave next year to reduce the massive public sector pay bill. A better solution might be to ask that the whole population simply hibernate through next winter. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Where to now for the trade union movement? Having presided over a phoney campaign against the public sector pension levy earlier in the year, union leaders repeated the exercise last week in relation to cuts in public sector pay. It seems that the trade union leadership now sees its primary role as managing members anger rather than protecting workers pay and conditions. Perhaps their members should now reflect on the old adage “Fool me once shame on you; Fool me twice shame on me”. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – The suspension of strike action by public sector unions is deeply worrying. At a time of uncertainty for the future of many workers, the ASTI, CPSU, TUI, etc, ought to be laying down the guidelines to the Government. The so-called deal reached through negotiations is a farce – the only mechanism to defend the rights of workers is to engage in an all-out strike.
Public and private sector workers need to unite against the spin pedalled by the media, this newspaper included, which seeks to divide and conquer the proletariat. The Government has no mandate nor authority to enforce pay cuts and redundancies on a strained sector. It is time for the unions to rise up, take the initiative and declare effective industrial action – Unite! – Yours, etc,
Madam, – The Finance Minister may well benefit from his daily garlic, but the country will suffer severely if it swallows the Taoiseach’s fudge. – Yours, etc,