Cir. 20/2015
Dear Branch Secretary
Ballot
A secret ballot of member is being held to decide the Association’s response to the Lansdowne Road Agreement (LRA). Ballot papers will issue to Branch Secretaries over the next couple of days for circulation to members. If the Branch Secretary is on annual leave or due to be on annual leave, please arrange for someone else to take responsibility for circulating ballot papers in their absence. Please also ensure that members on secondment to other Departments/Offices including members abroad and in perm reps are issued with ballot papers. Each envelope should contain a ballot paper, a letter relating to the proposals, payscales illustrating the impact of cuts and a prepaid addressed envelope. The closing date for receipt of ballot papers will be the Tuesday 4th of August, 2015.
The Executive Committee of the Association has consulted widely with the membership with a series of branch general meetings and with a Consultative Council meeting on 22 June 2015. The unanimous view of the Executive Committee is that the LRA should be rejected by the membership and accordingly are urging all members to vote NO.
You should also be aware that we have identified that the pay of the Assistant Principal is currently adrift by 20% and that of the Principal Officer by 30% from that of his/her counterpart in the private sector. This is based on an evaluation done by an independent expert commissioned by the Executive Committee. This evaluation corresponds with recent analysis carried out by the Economic and Social Research Institute of Ireland. It is also why the Association is seeking the introduction of an Independent Wage Evaluation Mechanism and why we have now supplied members with detailed tables setting out the position of pay scales and the serious impact of the various cuts.
PO Competition
The results of the Open Principal Officer competition were issued to candidates over the last couple of weeks. 334 candidates were invited to the final stage and 164 candidates were placed on the panel. The following is some of the statistical information in relation to the competition.
|
|
Number
|
Female
|
Male
|
Civil Service
|
Public Service
|
Private Sector
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Applications
|
1,458
|
44%
|
56%
|
No information available on this
|
|
Stage 1 completed
|
1,400
|
44%
|
56%
|
|
Passed Stage 1
|
947
|
47%
|
53%
|
|
Invited to Assessment Centre
|
334
|
42%
|
58%
|
68%
|
15%
|
17%
|
|
Attended Assessment Centre
|
319
|
40%
|
60%
|
68%
|
15%
|
17%
|
|
Successful
|
164
|
45%
|
55%
|
75%
|
10%
|
15%
|
The Association is still awaiting the outcome of the Arbitration hearing in the relation to the ratio of open competition versus internal competition.
Please circulate to all members. This circular will also be placed on the Association’s website www.ahcps.ie
Ciaran Rohan
General Secretary
Association of Higher Civil and Public Servants