Civil servants wary of neo-liberals

The leader of the biggest Civil Service union in the State today said his members were not getting the recognition they deserved…

The leader of the biggest Civil Service union in the State today said his members were not getting the recognition they deserved for co-operating with reform.

General secretary of the Civil and Public Service Union (CPSU) Blair Horan also warned against neo-liberal influencing the next stage of reform.

Speaking at the union's annual conference in Tralee, Co Kerry he said that for the past 10 years civil servants regarded "better public services for citizens" as the central aim of modernisation.

However, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) was promoting a neo-liberal agenda which included private sector market mechanisms. "These policies would not work and would not be acceptable" Mr Horan warned.

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"We support further public sector reform - but it's not the same as supermarket shopping.

Government departments and offices are to undergo a comprehensive review, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern announced earlier this month.

Work on the Organisational Review Programme is due to begin before the summer complimenting the wider public service review being carried out by the OECD.

He also said the recent rise in inflation, the highest in the Eurozone at 5.1 per cent, could "wipe out the real pay gains" in the Towards 2016 national agreement. However, he expressed confidence in Congresses "track record of delivering real pay gains in each agreement".

The conference expressed its support for the current industrial action being taken by nurses and called on the public to make post office closures and electoral issue.

Deputy general secretary Eoin Ronayne said: "The Government well knows that this service commitment is a burden on the company yet it expects the costs to be covered by cutting workers pay and conditions and through stamp price increases."