NO SIGNIFICANT disruption was reported yesterday on the first day of industrial action by tens of thousands of members of the unions Impact and the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation in protest at pay cuts introduced in the budget.
The unions have introduced a work-to-rule and a ban on co-operation with reform plans.
The industrial action involves staff in the Civil Service, local authorities, health and education sectors. Unions have warned that the current industrial action could escalate in the days and weeks ahead.
Another Civil Service union, the PSEU, is scheduled to join the industrial action tomorrow, with Unite taking part from Thursday and Siptu from next week.
The Government has so far adopted a “softly-softly” approach to the industrial action.
The Department of Finance has drawn up a draft memo for Cabinet today setting out the state of the industrial action across the public service. The document also details the level of supports provided to unions such as the facility to have subscriptions deducted at source.
However, informed sources said yesterday it was unclear whether Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan would actually bring the document before Cabinet today.
Yesterday, Minister for the Environment John Gormley called on the unions to reconsider the industrial action.
He welcomed any proposed intervention in the dispute by the Labour Relations Commission as suggested by its chief executive Kieran Mulvey over the weekend.
“We saw the effects last week and the effect on our economy when the air traffic controllers decided to take action, and if that goes across all sectors, as Mr Mulvey has said, then our economy is going to suffer and the recovery that we all yearn for so much will only be delayed,” Mr Gormley told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland.
Senior union sources said last night there had been no contact from Mr Mulvey about a possible intervention by the Labour Relations Commission.
However, it is understood Government officials yesterday considered the Mulvey proposals and how they could operate.
Siptu president Jack O’Connor also welcomed Mr Mulvey’s proposals to intervene in the public sector pay row. He said such an initiative could be launched if the Government avoided confrontation in the short term.
Meanwhile, the Health Service Executive (HSE) said last night there had been no significant impact on patient care reported as a result of the industrial action yesterday. Last week the HSE warned of the implications for patient safety arising from any such dispute. It had sought an exemption for the health service from the scope of the industrial action, but this was refused by unions.
A HSE spokeswoman said there had been some issues yesterday regarding the provision of cross-cover of phones for staff on leave. In addition, there had been some non-co-operation reported with information technology and data-reporting systems.
Meanwhile, the Civil Public and Services Union (CPSU), which represents lower-paid civil servants, is to hold a special conference today to consider a strategy for fighting the pay cuts.
The conference is expected to authorise the holding of a ballot on possible strike action as part of the campaign.
The CPSU has been involved in low-level industrial action over the past week – phones in some offices not being answered at certain times and public offices have been forced to close at lunchtime.
Among the areas hit by the lunchtime protests have been the Passport Office and some Department of Social and Family Affairs facilities.