Irish Water service level agreements (SLAs), which will nail down staff protections, are to be negotiated in all local authorities.  At a recent meeting with IMPACT, the Irish Water Consultative Group (IWCG) restated its commitment that SLAs which will be “sufficiently durable” to cover the period to 2026.

There is also a provision to review the SLAs after two and seven years.

At the meeting, IMPACT official Eamonn Donnelly raised concerns over clauses in the overall framework for service level agreements, which aim to protect workers’ terms and conditions. He was assured it that it was not intended that any local authority worker would  be ‘conscripted’ into Irish Water.

Eamonn said it was now critical to ensure that SLAs were sufficiently durable, and that they would reflect sufficient resourcing to succeed over the 12-year period from 2014. He said IMPACT would circulate more information to branches following a briefing on a draft framework for individual SLAs, which is due to take place next week.

IMPACT has hosted a series of information meetings for members in local authority water services. A number of issues were raised by members, mostly arising from mixed messages from senior management in some local authorities. The union raised these issues at the IWCG.

Union meetings were held in Tullamore, Galway, Limerick, Kerry and Cork. More meetings will take place as new information becomes available.