Ciaran’s Peculier [sic] Blog

How long is a piece of string? Does the answer differ if those charged with finding it out are supposed to work longer hours?

 The public pay agreement is a marvellous spectacle of selfishness. Many of those who suffered cuts in the recent cowardly budget had no option but to sit and take it. The unemployed whose benefits were cut, were unable to go on strike. Similarly those like myself whose blind pensions were cut could not threaten to go on strike either.

 What’s more public service union members will not face any pay cut until 2014, when it is hoped we have got back to Celtic Tiger land. No such guarantee exists for the unemployed, the blind or the partially sighted.

 I have never had much sympathy with the complaints of people while being low paid, have permanent jobs. (Whenever I have been “fortunate” to have a job, I have invariably been low paid, and if I appeared the least dissatisfied with my wages or conditions out I went and what’s more I never had any union to protect me,) When there were protests about the pensions levy I wondered what would be the response of the public service unions when cuts in welfare payments were introduced. I predicted the deafening silence. None of these cuts could have been introduced without the active involvement of public sector workers who processed the changes. And they certainly could not have been implemented without their help.

 The government knows that further cuts cannot be implemented without the support of public service workers. In fact the government relies on these storm troopers to carry them out. And just in case the government is seen as caving in to the threat of strikes they’ve tried to conceal their actions with talk about Public Service Reform. This probably involves a commitment by the membership of public service unions to work really harder at doing less.