Fás leave scheme 'not appropriate'

Fás has described its pre-retirement leave (PRL) scheme that gives workers up to 70 days holidays a year as “not appropriate”.

A statement from the State training agency this evening said the scheme had been negotiated when Fás was Anco and that it was now seeking to eliminate it.

Fás is looking for a date at the Labour Court in a second attempt to abolish the scheme.

The perk entitles certain employees who are within two years of retirement to enjoy 44 days annual leave on top of their normal 26 days' entitlement.

The Fás board took the decision to abolish it in March 2010, but Siptu objected and went to the Labour Relations Commission and then the Labour Court.

The union claimed fair procedure was not followed. The Labour Court determined the pre-retirement leave scheme should be reinstated until a review of them in other public bodies was undertaken.

Fás pointed out this evening that no scheme of comparable generosity was available anywhere else in the public service.

The issue is returning to the Labour Court because attempts to resolve the issue by the court’s deadline of May 2nd proved to be unsuccessful.

Fás made it clear that it would not “in any circumstances” offer monetary compensation to those who qualify for the scheme and had instead offered “once-off additional leave”.

The agency said it made two separate offers to resolve the issue with Siptu, but when it proved to be unsuccessful, Fás withdrew the PRL on May 2nd 2011.

It was reinstated at conciliation, but the issue of compensation has not been resolved.

At conciliation, the scheme was reinstated, and in discussions an impasse arose on the compensation. The matter was then referred to the Labour Court. It is anticipated that a hearing will be held shortly.

Siptu industrial organiser Brendan O'Brien sought to defend the scheme on the RTÉ News at One. Presenter Gavin Jennings asked him: "What planet are Fás staff living on?" to which Mr O'Brien responded that the perk was justifiable at the time when it was first negotiated.

He accused the media of focusing on “peripheral issues” and not the extra workload that Fás employees had to deal with since the start of the recession. He also said the union was amenable to change if proper procedures were followed.

Fine Gael Waterford TD Paudie Coffey said Siptu’s attitude towards the scheme was “simply unbelievable” given the current state of the economy and that its operation gave public service workers a bad name.

“Siptu clearly does not understand the seriousness of this issue or the myriad issues facing the country,” he said. “We are tackling the greatest economic challenge ever seen, and Siptu is looking for the Government to offer monetary compensation in exchange for ending an unfathomable and ludicrous perk.”

Labour TD Gerald Nash said the perk gave ammunition to those who had an agenda against public service workers.

He said the arrangement was not sustainable and the justification for it, that it eased staff into retirement, “simply does not stand up to scrutiny”.

A Fás spokeswoman said they hoped that the matter will be resolved before Fás is disbanded and split up into a new agency called Solas.