Passport Office staff may engage in full strike if pay deal is not reached

INDUSTRIAL ACTION:STAFF AT the Passport Office in Dublin could engage in full strike action from as early as next week if talks over the weekend aimed at securing a deal on public sector pay determination and reform are not successful.

The annual conference of the Civil Public and Services Union (CPSU) in Galway also voted yesterday to escalate action across the Civil Service if these talks fail.

The conference gave a number of standing ovations to the CPSU members in the Passport Office who have been engaged in industrial action for nearly two months in protest at pay cuts.

Ciarán Hodge of the CPSU branch in the Passport Office said he understood why the public was upset at the difficulties they experienced.

However, he said he had taken two pay cuts on low wages and had a right to be upset too.

Last week management threatened to deduct pay from staff who refused to operate the public counter. In return, the union served protective strike notice in the event of management docking pay. However, in a motion the conference gave the staff a key role in assessing any deal that may emerge from the national talks.

Under the motion adopted unanimously, the conference instructed its executive committee to consult directly with members in the Passport Office on the outcome of the current negotiations and “to allow them to implement full strike action based on the notice already served in the event that the talks fail to deliver for the lower paid”.

Senior union sources said the strike notice would allow the CPSU members in the Passport Office to take strike action from the middle of next week in the event of the talks not succeeding.

The conference rejected a motion calling on the executive to ballot members on the immediate withdrawal of the union from the Irish Congress of Trade Unions on the basis that it disregarded the mandate of CPSU members during the pay cut campaign.

The conference featured strong attacks on the media for what was described as a co-ordinated demonisation of public sector workers.

One delegate approached the media table and threw pieces of tissue at reporters, saying they they should place them in their ears. However, two other delegates later apologised.