February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
In what is seen as a hardening of attitudes, members of the Association of Higher Civil and Public Servants, which represents principal officers and assistant principal officers as well as other grades such as prison governors and court registrars, voted on Monday voted by 60 percent to 40 percent to take part.
The senior civil servants will join thousands of teachers, nurses and other public servants who are set to undertake a one-day stoppage in protest at government proposals to cut pay levels.
Unions have confirmed they are looking at plans for a second national public service strike before the December 9 budget. The debate on options for the budget opened in the D_il Tuesday with the government expected to defend its strategy of spending cuts over the coming three weeks.
Fine Gael and Labor have accused the Fianna F_il/Green Party coalition of looking to them for cover but Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said his party’s economic strategy would not be finalized this week, though it would be published ahead of the budget. Kenny said ministers were trying to test the public mood ahead of the budget.
“We are having minister after minister flying kite after kite. On Monday it was child benefit, today it is medical cards, what will it be tomorrow?” he said.
Meanwhile, Sinn F