Public service employment restructuring in the crisis in the UK and Ireland: Social partnership in retreat

Abstract

The crisis has had major consequences for public service employment relations in the liberal market economies of the UK and Ireland. However, variations in the process of fiscal consolidation reflect different legacies of social partnership, prior patterns of public management reform and different relationships to the eurozone. The measures adopted nevertheless reflect a similar concern to decrease public sector employment, worsen pay and conditions and increase work effort. Despite the deterioration of terms and conditions of employment, industrial action has been muted, reflecting the severe weakness of trade unions. Both cases illustrate that governments have become less concerned to gain trade union support to push through austerity measures.

Flying Under the Radar? Risks of Social Exclusion for Older People in Rural Communities in Australia, Ireland and Northern Ireland

“…In this context, social policy, even when focused on social inclusion, is increasingly driven by a new public management desire to control and regulate risk. In recent years, austerity, outsourcing and marketisation of services have become key features of the social policy agenda, especially in Ireland and Northern Ireland (Gray and Birrell ; Bach and Stroleny ; Dukelow and Considine ; Walsh et al . ).…”

“…In this context, social policy, even when focused on social inclusion, is increasingly driven by a new public management desire to control and regulate risk. In recent years, austerity, outsourcing and marketisation of services have become key features of the social policy agenda, especially in Ireland and Northern Ireland (Gray and Birrell 2012;Bach and Stroleny 2013;Dukelow and Considine 2014;Walsh et al 2015). The result is a progressive shift of responsibility for managing the risk of social exclusion from the state to individuals, families, communities, third-sector organisations and private enterprise (Zinn 2013).…”

Assessing the wage gap between public and private sector employees in Ireland: issues, evidence and challenges

“…From the late 1980s, pay rises for all public servants have been negotiated through a series of national wage agreements, which -until 2008 -covered both private and public sector workers. Since 2008, the private sector has reverted to company-level collective bargaining, and national agreements have been confined to public sector trade unions, their members and the Government (Bach and Stroleny, 2013;Roche, 2016). In this regard, any attempt to develop a fair process for determining pay levels in the public sector is most likely to occur within the collective bargaining arena.…”

“…Since the financial crisis, public sector pay has been governed by a series of wage agreements between government and public sector trade unions. These agreements have mainly involved considerable concessions from public servants geared towards the reduction of pay and conditions, along with increased worker effort (Bach and Stroleny, 2013;Roche et al, 2015). Public servants have paid increased pension-related deductions, averaging 7% of total salary, and experienced substantial pay cuts in 2010 and 2013 in the range of 6%-19%.…”

Power and ideas: the legitimisation of the end of the Irish social partnership model during the Eurozone crisis

“…There is abundant scholarly literature on the collapse of social partnership in the EU during the Eurozone crisis (see Molina & Miguélez, 2013 for Spain; González Begega & Luque Balbona, 2015 for Spain and Portugal;Doherty, 2011;D'Art & Turner, 2011;Bach & Stroleny, 2013;Regan, 2013 for Ireland). Most of these accounts focus on macroeconomic constraints (Molina & Miguélez, 2013, p. 8;Regan, 2013, p. 4) to explain why governments did not resort to social concertation to address the effects of the crisis.…”