UNION REACTION:Public service unions have warned they will not allow their members to be 'scapegoated' to deal with the financial crisis and that they will not accept compulsory redundancies.
Responding to the publication of the 'Bord Snip Nua' report, the largest union representing lower income earners in the civil service said it would not accept any attempt by Government to force through staff cuts and other changes proposed in the report.
The CPSU said its initial examination of the report did little to dispel its concern that it would be a 'slash-and-burn' exercise.
Earlier, Impact, the largest public sector union threatened industrial action if the Government attempted to impose compulsory redundancies or cuts in pay and pensions.
General secretary Peter McLoone said the reaction to such a move would include "sustained, widespread and painful industrial action including strikes".
CPSU general secretary Eoin Ronayne said: ”We have always questioned the purpose and intent of the board ['Snip'], as these so-called ‘experts’ represent the failed recent economic past - consequently anything they have to say about our Public Services will not be likely to impress."
He said ultimately it would be "up to Government and Unions to work through the difficult weeks and months ahead and the CPSU expects nothing less than the processing of any proposals by the employer through the normal industrial relations procedures".
Impact said public sector pay had already been cut by more than 7.5 per cent this year, on top of extra taxes and levies introduced in the last two budgets.
Jack O'Connor, general president of the State's largest union Siptu, said the recommendations of the An Bord Snip Nua report were "an exercise in fantasy”.
“In fairness to the group their terms of reference focused exclusively on reducing expenditure without regard to the economic and social implications, or the viability of alternative approaches," he said.
"This is graphically highlighted in that the Government’s own projections envisage reductions of €1.5 billion in current expenditure for 2010 and the same again in 2011, whereas this report recommends an incredible £5.3 billion. The Government’s targets are not achievable without the most severe measures. The recommendations of this report are entirely unworkable, unnecessary and downright counter-productive."
Mr O'Connor said the £3.8 billion in social welfare, health and education cuts envisaged would "dramatically impact on the standard of living of the majority of working people and the less well off in our society".
“Under these proposals almost 7,000 jobs would be lost in education, more than 6,000 in the health services and over 1,000 in agriculture, food and fisheries. There are also huge job losses envisaged across government departments and state bodies. The effect of these cuts would dramatically
impact on the quality of public services and also damage the most vulnerable in society, including the sick, the aged and the poor."
He said the proposal to reduce the number of special needs teachers by 2,000 and language support services by1,000 from our schools in order to achieve savings of just €80 million would "impede educational development and hamper the productivity of our labour force for years to come".