On 16 June, the committee covering 19 public services unions in the ICTU confederation has voted to accept the so-called Croke Park deal by a margin of almost two-thirds. The agreement commits the government not to cut public service pay again, and to begin the process of reversing recent pay cuts as savings flow from the substantial reforms set out in the deal. It also contains a government commitment to avoid compulsory redundancies, plus important safeguards on pensions and outsourcing. Public service pay has been cut by an average of 14% over the last 16 months through the so-called ‘pension levy’ and reductions in pay scales introduced in the last budget. On 25 June, however, the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) reaffirmed its opposition to the Croke Park deal, and said it will not be bound by the decision of the ICTU committee. The Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland (ASTI), which also rejected the deal, will review its campaign against the deal at an executive meeting in early July. Both teaching unions are set to wait until August before deciding on industrial action – over and above the work-to-rule directives already in place. Primary teachers, members of the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO), have lifted their work-to-rule directives after INTO membership voted to back the Croke Park deal (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 3 April and May 2010).
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/369;
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/strike-threat-lifted-after-croke-park ...;
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0625/1224273270178.html
For more information, please contact the editor Maarten van Klaveren, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) M.vanKlaveren@uva.nl. You may find further information on the ETUI atwww.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net. © ETUI aisbl, Brussels 2009.