I was under the impression that benchmarking was the mechanism under which all these so called reforms were to be delivered. But as we now know it was nothing more than an ATM, so aptly described as such by Joe O'Toole. The reality is that the Public Service has been led up a garden path by their Unions, led into believing that negotiations al a Berties were a one way street with no payback. Well under the Ahern catastrophe they were, but now the bill has arrived Ahern has gone to the toilet and the rest of us have to pay. Sorry to say as needed as the Public Service is there has been no Cost Benefit Analysis, no proper allocation of resources and an Alice in Wonderland mentality developed, welcome to to the real world!

Did trade union leaders take into consideration the second jobs of most front line workers - firemen, -all have some sort of second job - involved in training employees in fire fighting in industrial estates. gardai, - involved in security work - taxi driving - school teachers - grinds, nurses - private palliative care

and much more

Derry

lets get real. the government wants to cut eveyones wages and now with the help of the plebs on private sector low wages they will get it. could whoever is left in ireland after this please turn off the lights or pay the greens carbon levy

xxx

Its obvious from above union leaders bent over backwards to reach compromise even though the mess is not of their making.Their members have taken several hits in the past year including a pay freeze,a severe pension levy and other levies.They didnt even get cost of living increases in the good times,without conceding productivity .How will those who entered the property ladder near its peak survive?

you are really saps in the private sector. ever wonder why you had less rights and a crap pension. it is because you are leading the charge on the public service for the rich and selfprivilaged. when we get shafted it gets worse for you.

Just where do these union leadership get their brass neck from?

All the time they have been whipping up a frenzy amongst their members about tax exiles and wealthy people. These unions have brought this state to near bankruptcy.

These union leaders are fundamentalists who should not be tolerated. It is time to get rid of this ballast and dead weight.

@owen: "Its obvious from above union leaders bent over backwards to reach compromise even though the mess is not of their making." Wrong. Unions were in Social Partnership which gave them unprecedented say in government affairs. Therefore the Unions had the responsibility AND opportunity to weigh in on government policy - and so should have recognised and tamed the excesses of the Property Bubble - considering the risk posed by the Bubble to their own members interests. They failed to do so. They failed their own members.

And now they propose, as "concessions", the following:

* Awarding of increments based on performance.

* Promotions to be based purely on merit.

This is so outrageous that I have to think that FF themselves have actually made this story up as some kind of stroke. in order to paint the Unions in the worst possible light.

Let me make it clear. This is not a "Tails I win, heads you lose" situation. The PS are not being punished at the expense of the banks. Rather, the banks (and private sector as a whole) have had to lay off hundreds/thousands of people, so far, and are also effectivly broke. The developers are bankrupt. They will eventually lose his houses and cars. EVERYONE is going to lose jobs/salary over the next 2-3 yeas, regardless of what you do and where you work.

Undercutting builder prices would not be too difficult given what they were charging

If You re tryin to get reason out of these Morons tony,you re wasting your time!George Webb may be simply deluded but Jonathan=beyond hope!

I laughed at the idea of extra leave for public servants - my grandson misses at least two classes a week because teachers are sick - how many days do they actually work in a year?
James

I have sympathy with the public sector and the private sector. Netiher deserve wage cuts because neither are the cause of this mess. The Government are sitting back and laughing at people throwing stones at each other when in fact the anger should be at them and only them. Every person in this country, be they public sector or private sector, will have at least €250 per week less in their wages next year and the coming years just to pay the interest on NAMA alone. That is what this all boils down to, paying the wealthy developers, bankers and TD'S debts. What astonishes me is why the people of this country are not doing what the old age pensioners did, they did not take it lying down and they were elderly they put the rest of us to shame, they put the Government in their box. Private and public sector should stick together march together, down tools and not stop until the Government pack up their desks. Until that happens this Country will continue to be run fraudulently. FF should be run from Government buildings.

In response to Paddy Mc Ginty, you say that the public sector worker in Ireland is paid 40% higher than the public sector worker in Europe!! although this figure is wrong ie police officer in UK as opposed to Garda in Ireland, have you once considered the cost of living in other European Countries is 40-50% cheaper than here...Property prices???? Can you even begin to compare property prices in Ireland to those in central Europe?? you also say "Ireland priced itself out of the market from cost of tourism, cost of living, cost of property, cost of everything" (your words not mine)...who dictated these costs except the greedy private sector!!...All of the above you mention are private sector pricings and the public sector just had to pay the overpriced prices if they wanted to buy a house or holiday in Ireland and everything else for that matter!!! when did the public sector ever get the opertunity to dictate the price index??????.....if our private sector charged the same amount other European countries charge, then maybe the public sector paybill could be a lot less and we could still survive!!! unlike the current situation where our mortage repayments stay at Irish boom time levels but the private sector wants us to be paid at lower European levels!!! compare like with like in terms of the cost of living before you start comparing wages!!!!!

I have to have a giggle at the PS workers with all there crying, they just don't seem to realize how bad our situation is, we are borrowing 400 million+ a week just to keep the show on the road, if the IMF where to come in here they would be taking a 30 to 50 percent cut overnight, it just that simple. Take some pain to save yourself a complete disaster.
Savings of between 10 and 15 billion have to be found over the next few years, not just a few billion saved for one year and its back on the books the next, wake up and smell the coffee people.

@Declan Hayes: "All of the above you mention are private sector pricings and the public sector just had to pay the overpriced prices if they wanted to buy a house or holiday in Ireland and everything else for that matter!!! when did the public sector ever get the opertunity to dictate the price index??????"

1. Ireland is in deflation and prices are dropping.
2. You do have a point about private sector greed pushing up prices across the board. But surely the response would have been for Unions to lobby the Government for prices controls and other measures, such as those outlined in the Bacon reports. Instead, they sought salary increases, which meant more money sloshing around in the economy, pushing prices up further. Why? I guess no-one liked the idea of house prices being controlled, right?
3. I'm sorry if you bought a house at boom prices and are now locked in to that. Really. However, did you not ever heed the warnings that were thrown about over the last few years? There were plenty of them. We cannot blame the banks or government completely on this one - every homeowner in NE or financial trouble bears some responsibility for entering into a legal agreement and financial commitment that he/she now cannot meet.
4. This debate is happening 5 years too late. Instead of congratulating ourselves on the value of our houses, looking down our collective noses at people who appeared to be "missing the boat" or renting, or running our businesses and raking in profits - we should have been taking a serious note of the warnings that were being issued and asking ourselves where it was going to lead us.
5. The time for debate is over. If wages/prices don't come down fast enough, if the Government can't make the cuts it needs, either the ECB will demand cuts or worse, the country will come to default and the IMF will come in. Then you can strike all you want - the private sector will be running scared with you but it won't make any difference.

'We cannot blame the banks or government' Darryl,
'People' with no 'common sense'. Paddy McGinty

This is the 'we are all to blame' mantra being repeated by the tax payer funded government spin doctors. The objective is to distract attention from the real culprits at the top of the government banks and building industry.