Public sector staff will get a 1% salary increase next year

PUBLIC SECTOR PERSONNEL will receive two 1% salary increases over the next two years pursuant to an agreement negotiated with the unions through the Commission on Workplace Relations.

Public Expenditure and Reform Minister Michael McGrath invited public service unions and staff associations to formal negotiations on a new wage deal late last month to replace the Public Service Stability Agreement that expires on 31 December. December.

McGrath said at the time that any deal has to be “appropriate to the context the country is currently facing and must be sustainable in the face of considerable economic uncertainty.”

In a statement this morning, the Public Services Committee (PSC) of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) said that negotiations in the WRC concluded in the early hours of the morning, pointing to a “positive” package in the short term.

Negotiators said the package is “substantially weighted toward lower-income civil servants and civilians,” and provides for two salary increases.

To ensure that lower-income staff receive a significantly higher percentage increase than higher-paid staff, the pay increase will be worth 1% of gross salary or € 500 per year, whichever is greater, on October 1, 2021 The second increase will take place on October 1, 2022.

The agreement also provides for the equivalent of a 1% increase in annualized salaries through a Sectorial Negotiation Fund on February 1, 2022 “to deal with pending awards, recommendations, awards and claims, with the option that the groups use the available allocation as sector pay round ”.

Under the new agreement, public sector workers will also see a return to 2013 premium and overtime rates and a mechanism for the eventual return of unpaid overtime imposed under the Haddington Road Agreement.

If ratified, the Construction Momentum: A New Public Sector Agreement would be in effect from January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2022. Each of the ICTU-affiliated public service unions will now consider the proposals in detail before to present the package to its members.

Speaking after this morning’s meeting, PSC President Kevin Callinan said the proposals were the best result that could be achieved during the relatively short life of the proposed deal.

“The ICTU team has also achieved a process to address sectoral issues and a separate mechanism that will make real and substantial progress on the outstanding issues of the Haddington Road deal, including the introduction of longer working hours that fell more heavily on the workers. ” he said.