Will public sector strikes prevent coming cuts in pay?

[patslatt]

Some public sector strikes and industrial actions are inevitable in protest against necessary 20 to 30% cuts in government pay bills that will be needed over about two years to curb massive budgetary deficits. The question is whether the government will cave in as it did in the recent budget and dilute the expected proposals for pay cuts to the point they have little effect.

In the event of a cave-in,the skittish international bond market whose money is needed to pay governmemt wages would soon refuse to take government bond issues,forcing Ireland into accepting a European Central Bank bailout on humiliating terms. So keeping the confidence of the bond market should be more important to the government than appeasing the unions.

I expect the government to exempt CIE,ESB and airport authorities from the pay cuts as a strike in those sectors could shut down the country.

[Bobert]

The CS won't strike. If they do fire them. There'll be someone to take the job if they don't immediately reapply.

[Leftfemme22]

Some public sector strikes and industrial actions are inevitable in protest against necessary 20 to 30% cuts in government pay bills that will be needed over about two years to curb massive budgetary deficits. The question is whether the government will cave in as it did in the recent budget and dilute the expected proposals for pay cuts to the point they have little effect?

In the event of a cave-in,the skittish international bond market whose money is needed to pay governmemt wages would soon refuse to take government bond issues,forcing Ireland into accepting a European Central Bank bailout on humiliating terms. So keeping the confidence of the bond market should be more important to the government than appeasing the unions.

I expect the government to exempt CIE,ESB and airport authorities from the pay cuts as a strike in those sectors could shut down the country.

You really do not have a clue do you.

If any sector of the CS is exempted the likelihood of all out strike by the rest of the CS and PS is magnified.

Again you come out with the needed 20-30% figure fpr cuts in pay as if it is some uncontested fact that is set in stone. It is not needed. Only the outright lunatic fringe are trotting out figures in this region.

The Government themselves have called for 10%, that is their opening Gambit, nobody in anay political party use the figures you frequently bandy about here.

Having read over your threads on this and considering how you have been frequently debunked and shown to be incorrect yet still post the same rubbished material over and over again, one must conclude that you are simply trying to ram your opinion down peoples throats and have no regard for the truth.

[Leftfemme22]

The CS won't strike. If they do fire them. There'll be someone to take the job if they don't immediately reapply.

How on earth does someone achieve a reputation like yours when they are capable of saying things as spectacularly stupid as that?

[Eurocitizen]

. I think that we must be realistic here to expect a 20% cut in not on a figure of 3% to 5%
Would be more acceptable and 8% at the higher end of the pay scale. Most people accept that the cuts are necessary and we must bring them with us and not alienate them. The Government must make a firm stand against the unions.
The whole public sector needs to be reformed; less numbers more efficiency and no more jobs for life attitude. We must also reward productivity in some way to encourage efficiency and job satisfaction.

[DaveM]

The government are presently talking about a 10% cut in payroll so it would be reasonable to assume a combination of a reduction in pay rates of less than 10% and a reduction in head count would be the means of delivering this. Still a big cut but unavoidable given the current situation.

[smitchy2]

I really cannot see this government agreeing to a 10% cut in pay with the unions- even for staff over €40k (which is reasonable).

More than likely the majority of cuts will come from other areas of department budgets which are a lot easier to implement rather than face the unions down and deal with inevitable strikes. THe cuts will likely be in the ratio of 33% payroll 66%operational costs.
Services will of course suffer as a result.

[TradCat]

The unions would probably go for redundancies before pay cuts. The numbers can creep up again while pay rates will possibly be static for years.

[hopi watcher]

In the event of a cave-in,the skittish international bond market whose money is needed to pay governmemt wages would soon refuse to take government bond issues,

We gotta make sure that skittish international bond market is not spooked. Now we know why the Incas engaged in human sacrifice, to placate the skittish international bond market!!! Although I guess that PatS would not support human sacrifice, he/she would insist on death while sleeping rough in sub zero conditions in doorways.

[Kevin Doyle]

I really cannot see this government agreeing to a 10% cut in pay with the unions- even for staff over €40k (which is reasonable).

More than likely the majority of cuts will come from other areas of department budgets which are a lot easier to implement rather than face the unions down and deal with inevitable strikes. THe cuts will likely be in the ratio of 33% payroll 66%operational costs.
Services will of course suffer as a result.

The Government is looking for a cut in Payroll of 10%, that is on top of the cuts they have already called for in operational budgets.(3%)

As I keep saying the 10% figure can be easily reached through a VER and reduction in the numbers employed through FTCs. The combined numbers effected are quite enormous.