The debates inside the trade unions on the so-called Croke Park II proposals from the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) are heated. Under the agreement there will not be compulsory redundancies. The agreement outlines how additional working hours would be applied in the various sectors of the public service where management is seeking greater flexibility in rostering and additional hours in order to reduce headcount, overtime and the use of agency staff. Trade union leaders warned their members that working time extension was a core government demand that they could not relinquish. Four unions walked out of the talks saying the government's agenda was unacceptable. In the face of the far-going cuts that were to be implemented if no Croke Park II deal was reached, other unions said their first goal was to find an acceptable agreement.
English: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2013/0227 ...
http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/0225/369441-croke-park/
http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/0224/369295-croke-park-agreement/
http://www.siptu.ie/media/pressreleases2013/mainnews/fullstory ...
http://www.lrc.ie/documents/2013/LRC ...
For more information, please contact the editor Jan Cremers, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) cbn-aias@uva.nl or the communications officer at the ETUI, Mariya Nikolova mnikolova@etui.org. For previous issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit http://www.etui.org/E-Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net.