Mar 10
23
All councillors through out the country have just received an email from Jackie Spoonley personal assistant to Hilary Kelleher of IMPACT.
The email that I received stated that:
“An official instruction on the escalation of industrial action sent by Peter Nolan, National Secretary, Impact on 16 March 2010 states that the ban onco-operation with Councillors, T.D.s and Senators is extended to ALL Political Parties. In order to provide greater uniformity to the positions of public service unions the ban on co-operation with political representatives will now involve All Councillors, T.D.s and Senators. This instruction to have immediate effect.”
As a result of this and the existing industrial action being undertaken by council staff in Cork City Council, I find it is now impossible for me to fulfil my role as a public representative.
I am already struggling to attend meetings, that used to commence at 5.30pm, but now must start at 3pm, so that council staff can finish their working day no later than 5pm. Civil servants all received benchmarking payments in exchange for flexibility and modernisation. We have seen very little in the line of modernisation and the flexibility has come from the council members and not the civil servants as we have started meetings much earlier to facilitate them.
This is personally frustrating for me for two reasons. In my own private life, my salary has been reduced and, as is the case with many other employees in the private sector, my job is only secure week to week. In my role as a City Councillor, I am now being prevented from representing my electorate properly due to the actions of the Impact union. No official in City Hall with co-operate with any councillor. This means that when I make representations on your behalf, my queries and concerns will not be dealt with. There will be no response to emails, phone calls or letters. The effect of this is that the people that I was elected to represent are now severely disadvantaged.
I think the Trade Unions need to reconsider their course of action. Preventing councillors from doing their job is an action that is designed to hurt the ordinary people of this city and nobody else. Why are civil servants holding up dole payments, passports as well as preventing the work of Cork City Council from getting done when their issue is with their union leaders and the government for not having the common sense to sit around a table and agree a deal that works for everybody? Their fight is not with the people of Cork. It is with Blair Horan, Jack O’Connor and Brian Cowen.
