Council facing staff strike

ANGRY Cllr Christy Hyland is among the councillors who have heavily criticised the Council Executive’s handling of the relocation of staff members.

Outdoor staff to vote on industrial action if workers forced to relocate

Anton McNulty

THE Executive of Mayo County Council has been warned that moves to relocate four outdoor staff against their will could end up in industrial action. SIPTU shop stewards are preparing to ballot their members on strike action later this week if the moves are not reversed, The Mayo News has learned.
At yesterday’s monthly meeting, a number of councillors expressed outrage at the way in which they believed the workers had been treated by the Council. “The IRA would not do it,” one seethed.
At issue are two members of the outdoor staff currently based in Westport, who have been given notice to transfer to Ballinrobe, and two members of staff in Belmullet, who were given instructions to transfer to Ballina. All four are members of SIPTU.
All other business scheduled to be discussed at yesterday’s Council meeting was suspended so that the members could focus on the issue around the workers, with many present condemning the actions of the Executive.
The morale of the Council staff was described as being at an all-time low, while the  industrial relations approach of the Council was described as ‘the pits’.
The meeting heard that Council officials called to the homes of the two Westport-based employees and served them with registered letters outlining their redeployments.

‘I am ashamed’
Fine Gael councillor Patsy O’Brien described the way the staff were being treated as ‘deplorable’ and warned the Executive they face a strike unless the workers are reinstated at their current locations.
“I’m pleading with the executive to reinstate these people back where they belong because a ballot is now going to take place for industrial action. If that ballot becomes a reality there will be a strike in this council and nobody wants a strike. What was done was wrong. It was absolutely disgraceful and despicable.
“To think I am a member of Mayo County Council, who would do that to an employee, I am ashamed. The morale is so low in Mayo County Council at the moment … it’s high time the Executive deals with the issue immediately,” the Ballinrobe-based councillor said.
The staff-relocation issue was first raised by Westport-based Independent councillor Christy Hyland, who despite opposition from the Cathaoirleach, Cllr Al McDonnell, demanded that discussion of all other items on the meeting’s agenda be suspended to debate the matter.
He condemned the manner of the workers’ transfer, pointing out that the staff members in question have given many years of loyal service to the Council.

‘It was like a hit squad’
Councillor Hyland went on to outline the way in which he was told one of the employees was informed of his transferral. “A senior engineer and an overseer went to the employee’s house and asked him to sit in his car and handed him a letter. The IRA would not do it. It was like a hit squad taking them out,” he claimed.
Referring specifically to the Westport staff members, Cllr Hyland continued: “They are exemplary workers with over 20 years’ loyal service, and what do they get? They get a letter with three lines, that is what they get for their loyal service.
“There are proper, fair procedures to be followed. The old days are over. You can’t just go over to their house, hand them a letter and tell them to report to Ballinrobe in two weeks’ time. All we are asking is for humanity’s sake to bring them back to the Westport area.”

‘Smokescreen’
Mr John Condon, Secretary of Mayo County Council, informed the members that the legal representatives of the transferred workers have contacted Mayo County Council, and said that for legal reasons, he could not go into too much detail on the matter, as anything said may prejudice matters.
This was described as a ‘smokescreen’ by some councillors, with Cllr Michael Kilcoyne saying that it had been suggested that the staff were being moved to ‘make way for somebody else’.
“It raises serious questions in my confidence in the management of the County Council,” Cllr Kilcoyne said. “It is very difficult to have confidence in the management of an organisation which treats its workers in that manner. If there was a shortage of revenue in the Westport area it should have been brought to the attention of the Municipal District,” he added, suggesting that it was easier to ‘discard’ outdoor workers.
Responding to the criticisms, Chief Executive Peter Hynes said the bottom line was that the  Council is required to ‘equalise’ its resources around the county, and he disputed the allegations made in the chamber.
“There were discussions; it wasn’t a simple question of a registered letter arriving in the post. The background will be discussed in another forum. It’s entirely inappropriate that it would be dealt with here. The detail will be dealt with in another forum … there are mechanisms for dealing with these things. That is where this discussion will head. I share the concerns for the wellbeing of every worker in this organisation, but at the end of the day, the responsibility of deploying our resources and getting the job done [running the county] rests here,” he said.
Cllr Kilcoyne warned that if the matter was not dealt with by the Council Executive in the next two weeks, the councillors would ‘deal with it’ themselves.