Lower-paid civil servants have voted to escalate their industrial action across the civil service if talks at national level on pay cuts and reforms are unsuccessful.
In an emergency motion considered at the annual conference of the Civil Public and Services Union (CPSU) in Galway today, delegates also unanimously backed proposals permitting full strike action in the passport office in the event of the national talks failing.
Addressing the conference, CPSU general secretary Blair Horan apologised on behalf of the union to people affected by what he described as the "debacle and chaos" in the passport office last Friday. However, he said he would not apologise for the union's industrial action.
Mr Horan again blamed management at the Department of Foreign Affairs for the chaotic scenes at the passport office over recent days.
Delegates at the conference strongly criticised the Government over pay cuts and hit out extensively at the media for what they described as unfair as negative coverage about lower-paid workers.
The Department of Foreign Affairs has been warned by the CPSU that its campaign of industrial action against pay cuts will continue until they achieve a positive outcome for lower paid workers.
In a letter to the secretary general of the Department of Foreign Affairs last night union assistant general secretary Theresa Dwyer said that the resolve of her members was strong.
She blamed what she called the debacle at the Passport Office on the mismanagement of the office by senior officials during the industrial dispute over pay cuts.
She said that the closure of public counters was a feature of the current dispute right across the Civil Service “and yet no other office had the type of problems experienced by your Department”.
Ms Dwyer said that the impact of the 13 per cent pay cut on her members had been severe. She also told the secretary general, David Cooney, that the level of pay cuts experienced at his level were significantly less onerous than those faced by her members.
Mr Horan said the position of the union remained that the lower paid had to be looked after in any deal and that it wanted pay cuts to be reversed for members.
Speaking in advance of the opening of the CPSU conference in public session in Galway today, Mr Horan said the prospects of a deal being reached between the public sector unions and the Government in the current talks on pay determination and reform “were very much in the balance”.
The CPSU conference opened yesterday with a private session on internal rules changes. However, when it opens in public today, the leadership believes it will be dominated by the current industrial action across the public sector.
Union members have been engaging in a work-to-rule for nearly two months in protest at the pay cuts introduced by the Government.
On Monday, the Department of Foreign Affairs threatened to deduct pay from union members who refused to operate the public counter at the Passport Office in Dublin. In turn, the union served protective strike notice on the department. The CPSU work-to-rule saw a backlog of about 50,000 passport applications develop over recent weeks.
Yesterday, union members closed social welfare offices around the State as part of the industrial action. However, Mr Horan confirmed that there would be no industrial action today. He said the union did not close counters yesterday in the Passport Office – which were due to be shut by industrial action.
Such a move would have been irresponsible in the current circumstances of lengthy queues at the office and given the union’s offer to assist in prioritising emergency cases, said Mr Horan.
“Luckily the queues are beginning to subside and I think that is to do with the initiative we took on Tuesday,” he said.
Mr Horan said that the main issue at the conference would be focusing on how the lower paid had been badly treated by the Government and that they were entitled to take industrial action.
“Yes there were unfortunate scenes in the Passport Office last Friday. But, in terms of industrial action overall, it is legitimate.”
Mr Horan again claimed that the handling of the queue situation by the Department of Foreign Affairs management had caused the problem.