IMPACT and other unions have received strong written assurances from Irish Water on concerns they raised about the forthcoming transfer of local authority water assets to the new state company.
In two detailed letters received in mid-December, Irish Water clarified that service level agreements (SLAs) with local authorities will specify what staffing resources are required. IMPACT had earlier raised concerns over this issue in a meeting of the Irish Water Consultative Group.
Irish Water has confirmed that SLAs must specify the staff headcount required on commencement of the agreement. Thereafter, annual service plans (ASPs) linked to the SLA will set out exactly how many staff will be needed. This will then be subject to review each year as the ASP is reviewed – arguably a stronger safeguard than originally envisaged.
Irish Water has also said that terminations of SLAs are not envisaged, and its letters set out the very limited circumstances in which suspensions might occur at the end of a specific process to address service failures. Performance issues will be addressed at monthly reviews between Irish Water and the local authority, which is another safeguard because problems will be addressed well in advance of a situation that might lead to the suspension of an SLA.
The letter also sets out the extremely limited emergency circumstances in which outsourcing might occur and makes plain that, should it arise, any outsourcing would be for a fixed temporary period before operations returned to the local authority.
Irish Water has also said that a Government amendment will ensure that the legislation concerning the transfer from local authorities will underpin the union-negotiated agreement that local authorities will operate water services on behalf of Irish Water for at least 12 years. Various other union concerns about the legislation, including staff pension issues, will also be addressed through amendments.
Separately, IMPACT national secretary Eamonn Donnelly says he has received satisfactory assurances that none of the union’s members will be ‘conscripted’ into the new water company against their will. Together with the two letters from Irish Water, Eamonn said the firm assurances were enough to allay union fears about staffing issues.
A longer report on these developments appeared on the IMPACT website on 19th December 2013.
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