Civil servants support creation of 85,000- strong ‘super-union’

Mid-ranking civil servants have backed the continuation of moves towards the establishment of a new “super-union” representing about 85,000 civil servants and white-collar staff across the broader public service.

Under the proposals, the existing unions Impact, the Public Service Executive Union (PSEU) and the Civil Public and Services Union would merge into one new organisation.

Delegates at the PSEU’s conference in Galway supported a motion calling for talks on the merger to continue, with final proposals being put to members in a ballot next year.

Centralisation

The union’s general secretary Tom Geraghty said that since 2009 there had been a greater centralisation of decisions in relation to pay and conditions of staff across the 300,000- strong public service.

Mr Geraghty said in any large organisation there were always going to be fears that people would become small fish in a large pond.

He said efforts would have to be made to guard against such a development.