IRISH people have no wish to see an ideological rush towards Thatcherstyle policies of privatisation, public sector job cuts or trade union bashing, a trade union leader has warned the incoming government.
The president of IMPACT's state enterprises division, Ms Mary Lundy, told delegates to yesterday's divisional conference that, "on June 6th politicians who put forward such policies were severely punished by the electorate. During the election, Mr Ahern was forced to give assurances that he would not support massive cuts in public service jobs and services.
"Those assurances are welcome. But it will take more than words to convince our members that this was more than an electoral damage limitation exercise." She called on Mr Ahern to come and talk to the union.
She also said the Strategic Management Initiative cannot be used as a Trojan horse to cut jobs, pay and conditions in the public service.
Ms Lundy said the union fully supports the aim of using the SMI to provide more customer friendly services and empower staff to become more efficient.
However, "if we allow SMI to become an excuse for costcutting and job shedding, as certain politicians would like, both the public and our members will lose out".
The emergence of temporary contracts, personal contracts and outsourcing of jobs had presented a constant challenge to IMPACT. It had not taken a dogmatic view but judged each situation on its merits, happy to negotiate as long as personal contracts were not foisted on members against their will.
Referring to new legislation like the Freedom of Information Act and the Public Service Management Act, Ms Lundy said that where things went wrong in the public service, culpability should be attributed to those "who are paid, or elected, to take the rap".
It should not be visited on members trying to deliver quality services on limited resources.