TALKS MAY get under way this week to resolve a row which has closed offices of the Department of Social and Family Affairs to the public at lunchtime since the start of the week.
The Civil Public and Services Union (CPSU) said management had removed its members from flexi-time attendance arrangements in department offices in Dundalk and Castlebar in a row over the introduction of a new attendance-recording system.
The union said it had warned management not to introduce this system until agreement was reached on a claim for “a modest change” to flexi-time arrangements that had been introduced in all other departments three years ago.
It said its members were seeking a widening of the flexitime bands to provide for an 8am start and a 7pm finish. Staff in the Department of Social and Family Affairs currently had an 8.30am to 6.30pm work pattern.
The department said the implementation of the new time and attendance recording system was agreed in November 2006 with the union, without conditions, as part of the its Towards 2016 modernisation plan.
It said the new system was the only method of recording the attendance and working time of the staff from the date of its implementation.
“In the event that staff do not co-operate with the new system, there will be no system of record available for the operation of flexitime for the staff involved.”
