Sit In at the Passport Office

MANTO said:
But wait, if its part of the procedure to collect the money how can the issuing of passports to customers also not be part
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+1
Thats what I am trying to get my head around. You hardly start work on the counter thinking your job is working as a diplomat combatting global nuclear proliferation.
 
MANTO said:
Take your anger out on the Government - not the public who you want to back you up.
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Who wants to back them up? While I feel sorry for anyone who has their pay cut the fact is that the government are 100% right to cut it. Any rowing back now would be a disaster.
 
Protective Strike Notice has been served on the Department of Foreign Affairs by the CPSU.

If the staff go on an all out strike, which is now likely, then no passports at all will be issued. Is that what people now want? Will they continue to bash public servants and the lower paid ones in particular?
 
MANTO said:
But wait, if its part of the procedure to collect the money how can the issuing of passports to customers also not be part, would you hand over the fee at the counter and walk away without your passport?
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I'm not in anyway defending their action. I just assume that on the afternoons that they are not issuing passports they are probably saying they are doing other duties (non-front desk duties), and this is how it is being explained as a work to rule. If they did not collect money it would be easier to prove someone did not follow the correct procedure.
Believe me, as someone that has a passport application in I would not complain if I was not charged.
 
RonanC said:
If the staff go on an all out strike, which is now likely, then no passports at all will be issued. Is that what people now want? Will they continue to bash public servants ...
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Of course - much more so if anything?!
 
I don't see how this is bashing. An all out strike means the unions will pay them for not doing their job as opposed to the government paying them for not doing their job. I have no issue with the stike as they are entitled to do this. Best of luck to them.

As it stands passports are not getting issued anyway but the staff are getting paid.
 
Hang on Ronan - what are you saying?

People are complaining because of the lack of service and basically if they don't shut up there will be an all out strike and see how you like that and maybe you'll stop complaining then?

Is that it?
That's what it sounds like you're saying.

Incredible. People bang on about the right to protest but apparently nobody has the right to complain then?
 

So you think when the counters are closed they are all sitting around drinking tea and coffee and laughing at the rest of us?

I can assure you that this does not happen.
 
RonanC said:
So you think when the counters are closed they are all sitting around drinking tea and coffee and laughing at the rest of us?

I can assure you that this does not happen.
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1. How can you assure us?

2. What does happen?
 
RonanC said:
So you think when the counters are closed they are all sitting around drinking tea and coffee and laughing at the rest of us?
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I don't know what they are doing behind the counter. All I know is that they are not issuing passports and they are still getting paid. At least one of those will change if they strike.
 
Purple said:
Who wants to back them up? While I feel sorry for anyone who has their pay cut the fact is that the government are 100% right to cut it. Any rowing back now would be a disaster.
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Oh i certainly dont, but i am sure they are looking for some 'support' from the public - and any (if any) they had, I am sure is gone out the window.
 

People have the right to complain and i'd be the first in line if I had an issue with a service I wasnt happy with. But it appears that people are angry that Industrial action is being carried out while the staff are still in receipt of full pay and why dont they not go on on strike. Well it looks like that will now happen and as a result not one passport will be issued. That is the point I am trying to make.

Public servants will easily admit that the systems in place are not good enough, that modernisation must happen and that changes are needed across the board. But then asking some of the lower paid to accept an unfair and unjust paycut on top of previous levies imposed but the prospect of more pay cuts in the next budget and yet no career prospects and no promotions for those who do wish to make a difference.

The public servants do not want to use the public as battering rams, this mandated Industrial Action and the work to rule is directed at the Government, and as a consequence of that it has caused some (and some will say, alot) of public services to be affected. Remember the industrial action has been ongoing for 7 weeks now and it took one day to cause near murder on our streets.

Why are people bashing the clerical officers, the nurses, the teachers, the emergency staff instead of directing their anger at the ones who have caused this mess, the Government. Instead these people will vote in their local FF candidate in the next elections.. Typical Ireland.
 


They are not 'making a big deal' of it. They are using it as a means to make a legitimate protest. It is the Private sector workers on here who are making the big deal about the fact that they go beyond their job descriptions, as if this is unique to them. As for the public hating Civil Servants, most of us are now completely immune to that given the vitriol, lies and exaggerations we have been reading about ourselves for the past 18 months. If you keep throwing stones at people, no matter what they do, saying 'if you keep doing that we'll throw stones at you' kinda loses its impact.
 
DB74 said:
1. How can you assure us?

2. What does happen?
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I dont work in the Passport office, and can only comment on where I work. The rostered counter staff here would deal with applications as they come in over the counter and due to the cut backs in staff numbers imposed by this government are then processing those applications when they are not rostered on the counter. There is alot more work involved in processing official legal forms and documents than just taking money and giving a receipt.
 
RonanC said:
Why are people bashing the clerical officers, the nurses, the teachers, the emergency staff instead of directing their anger at the ones who have caused this mess, the Government.
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Therefore public servants should direct their anger at the government then instead of affecting the public. There are always ways.

Instead these people will vote in their local FF candidate in the next elections...
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Strange comment since much of the Public/Civil services have traditionally voted FF.
 

People are directing their anger at those that caused the problem (Bertie etc) but they are also directing it at those who are trying to stop things getting better.

BTW from [broken link removed] "One third of those surveyed said they would have more confidence in a Fine Gael/Labour Government reviving the Irish economy." so it seems that FF may not get the battering many expect.
 
Caveat said:
Therefore public servants should direct their anger at the governement then instead of affecting the public. There are always ways.
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Given the fact that the majority of those represented by the CPSU are low paid public servants, the only avenue we have is to withdraw our labour and as a consequence the public will be affected.

If you have any other suggestion i'd be delighted to hear them because I for one do not want to strike. I want to work, I want to provide a service, but I also want to be paid fairly and treated equally (reffering to my comments on the reversal of pay cuts for higher paid public servants)
 
liaconn said:
It is the Private sector workers on here who are making the big deal about the fact that they go beyond their job descriptions, as if this is unique to them.
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You're actually making me laugh now.

What exactly was the WTR supposed to indicate then?
 
I am bowing out of this as it is becoming a "them and us".

The post started due to members of the public standing up for what they believed in. The public servants were doing the same by withdrawing some services. Ultimately neither has won. In fact, it looks like the union will have to escalate to a strike. It may soon come down to how deep the unions pockets are.

This cut to the PS is not a political football. I despair when I hear people attacking FF as if things will be all daisies and meadows if FG/Lab get in. It is naive in the extreme.

One way or another reform has to happen and not just for public sector employment. It is no differnet in the private sector. The only difference, to me anyway, is the perception of what needs to be happen and its urgency. (that was a "them & us" moment wan't it? Sorry!)
 
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