How do people feel about this one? Will it be short and sweet?
Mod warning:
https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121425200/#Comment_121425200
https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2024/0115/1426581-isme-on-pay-talks/. When you are so obviously biased what’s the point someone asking your opinion.
RTÉ at it again. Every time there's public pay disputes you can guarantee coverage, like this.
Same when the nurses did their last. RTÉ constantly on with patient families about how it was impacting them, when those issues were systemic and exactly WHY they were having the action.
Not just biased, but actively in bed with far right media group Grift.
ISME (Neil McDonnell) news is nothing news though isn't it?
Always against any public sector pay deal. Always against any raising of the minimum wage.
The usual boring twaddle from somebody who represents business owners and will never care a jot for the working man and woman.
Yep, and you might as well stop at "ISME" because nothing positive ever follows it.
ISME are just sour they have been mandated to increase minimum wage by 12.8% in an attempt to compensate workers for massive cost of living rises
What do ISME even have to do with public pay? Last time I checked the state wasn't small or medium
They have nothing to do with it.
But they sure like to voice their opinions on it.
Always negatively.
And RTÉ will report on it, when its has zero relevance to anything
Yeah may as well ask the Jehovah’s Witnesses on their thoughts on the public sector pay deal.
At the end of the day, if you’re Neil McDonnell you’re just doing your job and representing small businesses. If he said nothing, his members would complain.
Makes SFA difference to us really.
Of course it means something. Employers and Unions know that much industrial action is won/lost in the court of public opinion. The mechanisms are already ramping up in favour of the employer here.
The union will have to weigh the public's view of increased/any industrial action, as the public support for unions shortens any action.
You know this
By the same metric, you also know this man is just doing his job and representing his members. His comments are in their interests and nobody else’s. You also know RTE are just doing their job and reporting on something the head of ISME said.
The head of ISME sways nobody imo.
ISME will cry about anything that doesn't line their own pockets, whether it's minimum wage being increased or about the 'temporary' reduced VAT rate being reverted. And who knows how many of their members can't/won't even pay the tax they owe, look to the tax debt warehousing shambles. I'd pay ISME no heed.
As others have mentioned, for the vast majority of public/civil servants, more than half of any pay rise received won't even reach their bank accounts as it'll be taxed at the marginal rate and will be going straight back to the government. And the remainder, a large proportion anyway, will be spent in the economy.
The Government has no problem pissing billions in the wind when it comes to company supports. But when it comes to its employees, the people who provide the services that keep the country running, the Government shows nothing but disdain. Across the board, each service is facing a retention and recruitment crises, yet they offer 1.75% in 2024. Coupled with inflation rising again on the back of years of high inflation it's laughable really.
Look out for Helen McEntee, Norma Foley and Stephen Donnelly scratching their heads over the next year, saying we've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas regarding staffing and service provision crises in their respective departments.
He's commenting on something he literally has no say on and no direct impact on his members.
RTÉ may as well ask the UK version for all the relevance.
It's an information war being ramped up. Constant negative wording against the public unions will take its toll. It's a very basic yet critical tactic to control the narrative.
No direct impact? Agreed. Indirect impact? Yes.
Theyre doing their job and reporting both sides of the discussion. You’re overstating the “information war”, we’re not on strike. They have not even issued a ballot.
I don't see public sector representatives being asked to comment on business practices and industrial actions.
Information control is critical before any strike. The public would play the key role here either ignoring us and allowing the government wait us out or making it an election issue where the government want a quick fix.
The unions and government will be using public mood to determine how far they can push. Pointless waiting for us to be on the picket to start that as the public will have their opinions formed before that point.
This is not rocket science here and the media tend to learn anti-union
ISME issued a press release, when exactly were they asked?
What exactly are you saying RTE did wrong? Reporting on a press release? What exactly are you saying ISME did wrong? Comment on something that indirectly effects their members?
”information war”, “information control” - give it a rest. This isn’t the US primaries. You’re completely overblowing it. Do ye reckon we’re going on an all out strike?
When there was effectively 0% inflation & payrises still arrived Does that also need to be compensated for ?
That's an increase in living standards which shouldn't really be compared as an equivalent evil to a decrease in living standards as we experience right now
Have you bothered to read the thread?
This has been addressed at least half a dozen times already.
The public service took massive pay cuts at the time… that still haven’t been fully reversed. …and those cuts were far higher than the rate of deflation.
Do you have any idea about the increase in PS numbers in the last 10 years?
about 70k over boom time numbers at 385k.
You'd swear people were leaving their droves
You'd swear an increase in population of 700k wouldnt need additional public services........we are far behind where we need to be with some sectors (not all) finding it difficult to attract and retain staff.
By boom time I presume you mean 2007? The population of the state has increased by nearly 21% since then. In the same period the number of public servants has increased from 364,000 to 377,000, a 3.5% increase.
365k?
Where are you getting that from? 325k in 2008 according to dpers databank.
From the CSO website:
"Overall employment in the Public Sector was 363,900 in September 2007"
https://www.cso.ie/en/media/csoie/releasespublications/documents/earnings/2007/psempearn_q32007.pdf
Could it be a discrepancy in FTE vs number of employees? That happens in our place quite a lot, sounds like we have loads of staff but when you look at the FTE number it is a lot lower.
There's 42k commercial semi state employees in the discontinued CSO series so not like for like.
You'd need to add whatever the equivalent figure is now to the 377k of our public servants paid from the Exchequer and covered by the pay agreements.
It's always the case on this forum that when certain people are presented with factual information they go and invent their own facts to suit their argument.
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