Howlin Bill Removes Genuine Collective Bargaining! Paddy Healy Appeals to Unions to Turn Back Now! From Paddy Healy, Former President TUI, Former Member of the Executive of Dublin Council of Trade Unions, Currently Member of National Management Committee Retired Members Association TUI 086-4183732 The explanatory memorandum of the new Financial Emergency Provisions in The Public Service Bill is appended below. The Bill gives government power to unilaterally cut pay and pensions , to change allowances, to freeze increments and to change conditions of service including working hours. It enshrines the government demands made to unions in the recent Croke Park 2 proposals in law. It has a key coercive clause. Under “Purpose of the Bill” it contains 1.1• (to)provide for a suspension of incremental progression for three years for all public servants unless they are covered by a collective agreement that modifies the terms of the incremental suspension and which has been registered with the Labour Relations Commission. THis means that unless a trade union signs up to the agreement, even if the pay of members is under 65,000, their increments will be frozen for 3 years A registered agreement cannot be concluded unless the public service employer agrees to it If a union doesn’t sign up to changes in pay and conditions you will have the statutory changes in pay and conditions imposed and, unlike unions who sign up to an agreement with the relevant public service employer, increments of members will be frozen for 3 years no matter how low their pay! The new powers of the Minister remain until the Government decides there is no longer an emergency! This may stretch through decades and the terms of several governments. Crucially, the employer decides when and if it ends. The legislation does not automatically end when the so-called Haddington Rd Agreement ends. Effectively, all the unions represented on the officer board of the Public Services Committee of ICTU and others, have agreed to this legislation by “negotiating” under its threats and by forcing members to ballot on proposals to cut pay and worsen conditions in a situation where they either accept the proposals or have worse imposed on them by Law This is to deprive members of any real choice. How long will it be before similar legislation is applied to commercial state bodies? Could private employers demand such powers or legislation which would enable them to exercise such powers through a compliant government? The precedent is highly damaging to Irish trade unionism generally. Genuine collective bargaining and the right to free trade unions is being undermined in the public service! Unions have agreed to this into the indefinite future and ,in effect, to become quasi-organs of government. The legislation may be used by even more right-wing and anti-trade union Governments than the present government. It is a serious step in the direction of corporatism as espoused by the Italian fascist dictator Mussolini. The Irish fascist leader of the Blue Shirts, General O’Duffy, a great admirer of Mussolini, is smiling somewhere in vindication. Poor Larkin and Connolly are turning in their graves in the centenary year of 1913. I appeal to all Irish trade union leaders to turn back now. You are agreeing to a historic undermining of the trade union rights of Irish workers which have been won over generations! Demand that this legislation be withdrawn now. Don’t force members to ballot under legislative threat. Paddy Healy, May 24, 2013 THE Bill, as published, does not provide for restoration of pay or allowances. Crucially the Minister takes power to change conditions as well as pay Paddy AN BILLE UM BEARTA AIRGEADAIS ÉIGEANDÁLA AR MHAITHE LE LEAS AN PHOBAIL, 2013 FINANCIAL EMERGENCY MEASURES IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST BILL 2013 ———————— EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM ———————— 1. Purpose of the Bill 1.1 The primary purpose of this Bill is to: • reduce the remuneration of certain public servants on higher rates of pay in excess of €65,000, • provide for the reduction of the amount of the payment of pension or other benefits (other than lump sums) payable to or in respect of certain persons who are or were in the public service under an occupational pension scheme or pension arrangement, and • provide for a suspension of incremental progression for three years for all public servants unless they are covered by a collective agreement that modifies the terms of the incremental suspension and which has been registered with the Labour Relations Commission. 1.2 The Bill includes: • clarification that the existing powers of Ministers of the Government or other bodies that may set terms and conditions of employment of public servants may be exercised so as to reduce the remuneration or increase the working time of those public servants, • a modification of the pension related deduction that applies to serving public servants, that will reduce the pension deduction on all public servants by €125 a year, to commence from 1 January 2014, and • related or consequential provisions to the above, including a provision providing for a consolidation of the existing separate annual reporting requirements under the Financial Emergency legislation into a single report to the Oireachtas by 30 June of each year. 1.3 The Bill is being introduced as a financial emergency measure in the public interest in the context of the continued priority been given to the stabilisation of the public finances including the need to 1 Click here for Bill2 achieve savings of €1 billion in the public service pay and pensions bill by 2015. 2. Provisions of the Bill 2.1 Section 1 is a standard provision in legislation and sets out the necessary interpretive provisions to provide clarity in the understanding of and application of the terms of the Bill. Certain public servants who were not affected by the pay reductions imposed by the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Act 2009 will be affected by the measures in this Bill, including members of the judiciary and, under section 10, employees of the National Treasury Management Agency and the Railway Procurement Agency. The section also defines an incremental scale. 2.2 Section 2 amends the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Act 2009 by inserting a new section 2A which provides for a further pay reduction to apply to public servants whose remuneration (which is defined as including core pay and any fixed periodic pensionable allowances) is greater than €65,000 with effect from 1 July 2013 in accordance with the rates in the table below: Annualised amount of Remuneration Reduction Any amount up to €80,000 5.5% Any amount over €80,000 but not over 8% €150,000 Any amount over €150,000 but not 9% over €185,000 Any amount over €185,000 1 0% 2.2.1 Public servants affected will include members of the Government and the Oireachtas (other than the President), and the judiciary. 2.2.2 A saver provision is provided for persons who are in receipt of salaries and allowances marginally in excess of the proposed €65,000 threshold being reduced below €65,000 per annum by application of the reductions. 2.2.3 A new section 2B is inserted in to the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Act 2009. This provides that an existing power to fix terms and conditions may be exercised by the relevant employer or Minister of the Government so as to result in less favourable remuneration, other than core salary, or in increased hours for the public servants concerned, notwithstanding any of the terms of any enactment, contract or otherwise provided for. This provision will not apply to any group of public servants for whom remuneration is set by primary legislation, for example, the judiciary. 2.2.4 Both of the two new sections, section 2A and 2B, provide that the reduction in pay or the power to adjust terms and conditions apply notwithstanding any legislation, contract, or other agreement or measure to the contrary. 2.3 Section 3 provides for the application of all existing additional sections of the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest(No. 2) Act 2009, including the prohibition on pay increases and the ability of the Minister to modify the pay reduction as it applies to certain persons or groups on limited grounds. 2.4 Section 4 is a technical amendment which ensures that the definition of pensioner in the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Act 2009 is appropriately adjusted to encompass pensioners covered by the changes in the Bill. 2.5 Section 5 provides for amendments to be made to the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2010 to increase and extend the impact of the Public Service Pension Reduction (PSPR). 2.5.1 The reduction that applies to public service pensions in payment, for persons who retired up to 29 February 2012 and on pensions of greater than €32,500 will be increased as follows: Annualised amount of public service Reduction pension Up to €12,000 Exempt Any amount over €12,000 but not over 8 per cent €24,000 Any amount over €24,000 but not over 12 per cent €60,000 Any amount over €60,000 but not over 17 per cent €100,000 Any amount over €100,000 28 per cent 2.5.2 A reduction to public service pensions in payment of greater than €32,500, for those who retired after 29 February 2012 but before the end of a new grace period (and whose pensions therefore reflect pay rates which factor in the 2010 pay reductions) to be applied under this Bill will be as follows: Annualised amount of public service Reduction pension Up to €12,000 Exempt Any amount over €12,000 but not over 2 per cent €24,000 Any amount over €24,000 but not over 3 per cent €60,000 Any amount over €60,000 but not over 5 per cent €100,000 Any amount over €100,000 8 per cent 2.5.3 The section provides that no public service pension will be reduced to below €32,500 by virtue of these amendments. 2.6 Section 6 consists of consequential amendments to the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2010; these ensure that relevant elements of that Act, including in respect of aggregation 34 of pensions and calculation of pension, are adjusted for purposes of the Bill. 2.7 Section 7 provides for a freeze of incremental progression by public servants on incremental pay scales for a period of 3 years, commencing on 1 July 2013. Groups or grades of public servants may be excluded from the effect of this provision, or have its effects modified on the basis that a collective agreement, which has been registered with the Labour Relations Commission, has been reached. 2.8 Section 8 provides a power for the Minister to exempt individual public servants or groups from the increment freeze on limited and exceptional grounds. 2.9 Section 9 provides that persons retiring before 31 August 2014, or a later date that may be ordered by the Minister, will be entitled to have their pensions calculated as if the pay reduction and any increment pause or freeze had not applied to them. 2.10 Section 10 amends the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Act 2009 to provide that the employees of the Railway Procurement Agency and the National Treasury Management Agency that were not affected by the pay reduction imposed effective from 1 January 2010 will be affected by the measures proposed in this Bill. 2.11 Section 11 amends the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2009 to provide for a modification of the pension related deduction that applies to serving public servants, that will reduce the pension deduction on all public servants by €125 a year, to commence from 1 January 2014. 2.12 Section 12 provides for annual review and report to the Oireachtas of the necessity of the measures set out in the Bill. This Review will now encompass the reviews currently necessary under the earlier Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Acts. 2.13 Section 13 states the Short title of the Act. Department of Public Expenditure and Reform winmail.dat winmail.dat 22K Download
Posted on: Fri, 24 May 2013 16:45:58 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015