The Government is getting public services on the cheap through the work of non-statutory agencies, Ireland's largest public sector union claimed today.
The ICTU biennial conference in Tralee heard that public servants are getting paid €10,000 more for doing the same work as those working for agencies that receive public funding.
IMPACT assistant general secretary Ms Marie Levis accused the Government of encouraging the practice in which "parts of the non-statutory sector are run on a shoestring.
"In most organisations there are no incremental scales, let alone pension arrangements. Pay increases negotiated under national agreements are usually ignored. Hostility towards trade unions and workers' rights is widespread," Ms Levis said.
The union has proposed a motion calling for the pay and conditions of employment for those in non-statutory agencies to be similar to public servants. A similar move has been taken in Britain and Ms Levis warned that if the practise was not changed then "the range and quality" of public services would be affected.
She also warned that unions would walk away from public-private partnerships if they meant the introduction of a "two-tier" workforce.
Ms Levis said non-statutory organisations provide a wide range of core public services in areas such as health, education, homelessness, drugs services, youth work, disability, and services to the elderly.
Her comments come a week after the Minister of State for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mr Frank Fahey, announced improved employment rights for public servants.
In a move estimated to cost the Exchequer about €50 million a year, Mr Fahey said he would be implementing the terms of the Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Bill before its expected passage through the Oireachtas.
The Bill provides for contract workers to enjoy the same terms of employment s permanent staff, such as pensions and health plans.