‘Down payment’ welcomed, but unions warn of bigger pay battle
The trade union reaction to the deal, which is in light of payments secured by gardaí last November, was one of acceptance, while being far from exuberant. One union source said “no one is exactly doing high-fives around the place”, while Tom Geraghty, general secretary of the Public Service Executive Union (PSEU), described it as a “down payment”.
The meeting of the Public Services Committee of ICTU to discuss the terms was short, given there is a general acceptance of the terms and the realisation that union leaders are focused on what is universally expected to be the more difficult job of trying to formulate a successor to the Lansdowne Road Agreement.
Talks on that new deal are expected to begin in May or June after the Public Service Pay Commission makes its initial report by mid-year.
Eoin Ronayne, general secretary of the Civil Public and Services Union said he expects the next discussion to fully reverse the pay cuts for those earning less than €50,000; while also rolling back the additional unpaid hours and new entry lower points for a number of public service workers.
Impact general secretary Shay Cody said his union will push “for the fastest possible pay recovery in the context of public finances and other calls on the public purse, like investment in infrastructure and public services”.
In a Q&A for their members, a number of public service unions, including PSEU and Impact, said the payment to public servants earning under €65,000 is, contrary to media reports, an increase in pay rate, not a lump sum. Those earning more than €65,000 are not included, because this deal is as a result of last November’s Labour Court recommendation for gardaí earning less than €65,000. Gardaí earning over that amount do not benefit.
The Q&A highlighted that the amount secured from Government does not match what gardaí received.
However, it was noted that the agreement acknowledges that and accepts “that outstanding issues can be pursued as part of the negotiations that will take place after the Public Service Pay Commission makes its initial report”. In short, unions will be demanding that the extra secured by gardaí will be at least matched as soon as possible.
“It would not have been possible for unions to win Government and opposition approval for additional public service-wide payments on this scale in 2017,” the unions told their members. “That’s because there are only about 12,630 gardaí in this category, compared to more than 250,000 across the entire public service.”
Members of the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland rejected the Lansdowne Road Agreement, so are not therefore entitled to the payments secured yesterday.
ASTI president Ed Byrne said that, when tax, PRSI, the pension levy, and other taxes are applied, its members are only missing out on €150 over the next five months.
