Significant changes for Public Sector Employees under Croke Park Agreement
Carol Fawsitt addressed the recent Public Affairs Ireland Conference on 23rd September 2010 and highlighted how the Croke Park Agreement brings with it a whole new way in which employees are dealt with in the Public Service.
Carol in her address mentioned how “traditionally the Public Sector would have been viewed as providing a “job for life” – safe and secure, pensionable, with good work-life balance policies and arrangements, while dismissal was virtually unheard of and redundancies never arose.”
Carol went on to explain how the Croke Park Agreement has changed all that and how alterations to existing terms and conditions of employment of public and civil servants have been negotiated in consideration for commitments by the Government not to implement compulsory redundancies or impose any further pay cuts for the next 4 years.
The Agreement brings the Public Service more in line with the normal vicissitudes of working in the private sector. She outlined the significant changes that the Agreement will introduce and particularly in the area of redeployment for both civil and public servants.
Carol anticipates issues and difficulties arising in relation to any outsourcing of work in the Public Sector arising from the Agreement, particularly given the current legal position whereby a new employer in a transfer situation has no legal responsibility for the pension entitlements of the transferring employees.
If you would like to receive a copy of Carol’s talk or if you have any queries on the topic please email her at cfawsitt@hayes-solicitors.ie