Madam, – Paul Bell of Siptu has said, as one of the justifications for the submission on behalf of his members of a claim for a 3.5 per cent pay increase, that his members, “wouldn’t bear the burden” of the current economic situation.
Losing your job in the private sector – that’s bearing the burden. Taking a pay cut of 20 per cent or being put on short-time working – that’s bearing the burden. Having your pension to which you have contributed over years decimated and rendered almost worthless – that’s bearing the burden. How about sharing the burden that is being borne by the private sector?
Ictu has set November 6th for a day of protest, and union members are being called on to come out in support. This is national sabotage. I confidently predict that the vast majority of those protesting in November will be public service workers, people with safe jobs and safe pensions. The vast majority of private sector workers (those who have a job) will be taking good care of it, doing what they can in an environment where they could lose it all in a heartbeat.
And please, spare me the “I go and save children’s lives” or, “I teach your children” ripostes which are preferred to real debate by those who have no answer. A nation like ours needs people for all jobs. I have the height of respect for those who work in the fire service and for those who work in our hospitals, just as I do for those who work in shops and those who work in the construction industry.
Let us drop the “holier than thou” approach and deal with reality. The public sector needs to absorb the same changes as the private sector and if this has to include pay cuts (which an increased pension contribution is not) and job losses, then so be it. When this begins to happen, then we’ll all be on the same side. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Martin Giblin (September 30th) patiently explains to us, obviously intellectually challenged, public sector workers that our employer cannot afford us and we need to choose from a pay cut, longer hours and/or “to reorganise ourselves to reduce head count without reducing services.” Does it then apply that as soon as the economic status of said employer improves that we will automatically have all of these pay and conditions restored? Will the pension levy, which was only applied to the public service, be removed? Will the vital posts in our schools and hospitals that have been “suppressed” reappear? Based on past experience, I sincerely doubt it.
Could it be that the improved economic situation, when it happens, will be used to pay off more senior executives who know where the bodies are buried, to continue to pay for obscene expenses and pensions that can be claimed by TDs and Senators with consummate ease, and all the other squandering of public money which seems to have rendered our normally talkative citizens speechless?
May I respectfully suggest to Mr Giblin that we in the public service are not the legitimate target for his understandable anger? I sincerely believe that ordinary private and public sector workers need to stand together. We are, above all, obliged to resist the slick media campaign that is trying to divide us in the hope we will forget who presided over the most appalling and corrupt mismanagement of public finances in the history of this State. – Yours, etc,