December 2009
Introduction
The 24-hour public service strike took place on 24th November 2009. Late that afternoon the ICTU Public Services Committee (PSC) announced that it had agreed to re-enter talks with Government representatives on the following day, with a view to reaching agreement within a week.
The PSC agreed to re-enter talks on the basis that it had received a ‘vision’ document on the transformation of public services from the employers’ side, which was the first indication that the Government might negotiate an alternative to the imposition of pay cuts.
The unions’ position was that any agreement would have to include guarantees that there would be:
No further cuts in public service pay rates
No compulsory redundancies, and
No reduction in the value of public service pensions.
However, the unions also recognised that any agreement would have to find alternative payroll savings to meet the Government’s requirements in this regard in 2010 and beyond. In a statement issued on 24th November, the PSC said it believed it would be possible to do this. The statement said that a deal could be based on:
Transformation of public services to protect – and in some cases expand - vital services over the next three-four years as budgets and staff numbers declined and state agencies were rationalised
Agreed temporary measures to cut payroll costs in 2010 because this transformation was unlikely to deliver the necessary savings before 2011.
The unions also sought acknowledgement of the contribution already made by public servants through the so-called pension levy, reductions in staff numbers through the ongoing recruitment embargo, and measures like the incentivised early retirement scheme.
The negotiations commenced on Wednesday 25th November.
Sectoral negotiations on transformation
Negotiations about the transformation of public services were conducted at sectoral level between unions and senior officials from Government departments and employer bodies in health, local government, education and the civil service/non-commercial semi-state bodies. Over the period 25th November to 4th December the talks had progress so far that negotiators on both sides had agreed texts on transformation, which would have formed agreements in each sector, subject to an overall deal being concluded.
The agreed transformation statements, which described what was to happen in each sector, were underpinned by a robust agreement on the redeployment of staff based on the principle of an integrated public service. The agreement also provided for the establishment of a commission, with independent leadership, to drive the implementation of the reforms to ensure that early and robust outcomes were assured – including mechanisms for binding outcomes where disagreements arose.
Agreement on temporary and exceptional measures for 2010
In late October, the lead negotiator for the employers’ side accepted that any measures agreed for 2010 would only be accepted by the PSC as temporary and exceptional. It was also understood that the unions’ position was that, from 2011 onwards, savings from the transformation agreement would replace – and, indeed, increase - the amount of payroll savings accrued through the 2010 exceptional measures. The unions suggested that the situation should be monitored throughout 2010 and be addressed in further talks at the end of June 2010 if it appeared that the necessary savings were not being achieved.
As early as 25th November, the media was reporting that the introduction of unpaid leave of “perhaps as much as 12 days” could be among the exceptional measures. By Saturday 28th November an Irish Times front page article reported that “the introduction of compulsory unpaid leave…is emerging as the central feature of any alternative deal between unions and the Government.” This continued to be reported in the press and broadcast media - without any adverse media or political comment – until the evening of Tuesday 1st December, when it emerged that both parties believed it could form the basis of an agreement.
The idea was explored by the parties over the weekend and into Monday 30th November. Both sides agreed that, to be acceptable, it would have to:
Generate sufficient payroll savings and/or be supplemented by other measures that would bring the total savings to the required level
Be implemented in ways that avoided any adverse impact on services (in ways that might differ from sector to sector).
It was accepted by both sides that the value of the unpaid leave would not be redeemable by staff at any time in the future, and that the measure would not have negatively impacted on those retiring from the public service.
The cabinet discussed the proposal at its meeting of Tuesday 1st December and, following that meeting, the employers’ side confirmed to the unions that, although an overall agreement had not yet been reached, the Government accepted that the unpaid leave proposal could form the basis of a deal so long as these two issues were resolved.
Both sides agreed to continue negotiations to resolve these matters and, on this basis, the ICTU Public Services Committee decided to suspend the one-day strike proposed for Thursday 3rd December.
Agreement between the unions and the employers’ side was subsequently reached on the application of the unpaid leave in ways that ensured no adverse impact on services. For example, there would be no change to the school year or the amount of classroom contact between teachers and students. Managers would have had control over the timing of the leave and, in cases where it might otherwise have been disruptive, could have spread it over six years while accruing all the savings in 2010.
Agreement on the value of the transitional measures
The final meeting between Government representatives and senior negotiators from the ICTU Public Service Committee (PSC) took place on the afternoon of Friday 4th December. The employers’ side said that they had fully briefed the Government that morning, and that the Government had decided not to proceed to conclude an agreement. The employers’ side did acknowledge that the unpaid leave mechanism could have been constructed so as to yield €986 million in payroll savings in 2010, through an agreed progressive valuation of the unpaid leave.
When combined with the impact of reduced availability of overtime in 2010 (because of the introduction of unpaid leave) and savings arising from the implementation of the Report of the Review Body on Higher Remuneration the employers’ side accepted that this measure would have enabled the Government to comfortably reach its stated target for payroll savings in 2010. This would be in addition to 2010 savings of €2.4 billion though the so-called pension levy, the continuation of the incentivised scheme for early retirement, and the ongoing moratorium on public service recruitment.
The employers’ side also accepted that the Government’s objective on transformation would have been achieved through the sectoral documents, and that the implementation of transformation had been assured through the establishment of an ‘implementation commission’ with independent leadership.
The Government had decided not to conclude the agreement despite the negotiators having:
Agreed far-reaching transformation measures, which would have achieved billions in savings after 2010 while protecting and, in some cases, extending services as budgets and staff numbers declined in the coming years;
Confirmed that temporary measures to achieve savings in 2010 would have had no adverse impact on services;
Agreed that the 2010 temporary measures would have yielded enough savings to ensure that the Government would comfortably reach its stated target for payroll savings in 2010.
ENDS
