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The nation’s 340,000 civil servants are waiting for pay increases of up to 3% in a two-year pay deal overwhelmingly backed by today’s unions.
The 1pc salary increase expires on October 1 of this year, followed by another 1pc in the same month next year.
And another 1pc increase is also available to unions filing claims on behalf of groups of staff, to be paid for with a new sectoral bargaining fund on February 1.
State employees with lower salaries will receive € 500 instead of the percentage increase, which equates to up to 5% during the course of the agreement.
Earnings will also get a boost as cuts to overtime and allowances imposed during the financial crisis are reinstated.
And the agreement promises to reverse the additional work hours that were also introduced during the crisis by creating an independent body to make recommendations on the issue, and a fund of 150 million euros.
The leaders of the public service unions met this morning to announce the overall result of the vote following individual votes from the unions affiliated with the Irish Trade Union Congress. In a statement, the Public Services Committee said 13 of the 17 unions backed the deal.
“The package, called Building Momentum, was formally ratified at an ICTU Public Services Committee (PSC) meeting this morning,” he said.
“The agreement, which takes effect immediately and runs through December 2022, includes modest wage increases skewed towards those with lower incomes, measures to address important outstanding issues from the last financial crisis, and a sectoral bargaining mechanism based on aa ‘sectoral negotiation fund’.
He said the deal retains strong protections against privatization and outsourcing of public services.
Fórsa General Secretary Kevin Callinan, who chairs ICTU’s Public Services Committee, said ICTU-affiliated unions were committed to the full implementation of the agreement, which would bring tangible benefits to those who use and provide public services.
“Payment terms represent a realistic and acceptable approach to income, and are substantially skewed towards lower earners in a very challenging context of limited resources,” he said.
SIPTU Deputy Secretary General John King, who is ICTU PSC secretary, said that from the start of the membership consultations, it was clear that there was a real appetite to reject austerity deals and improve and advance wages while the provision of public services and public service jobs are protected. .
“There was also a lawsuit to try to find a way to deal with grade-related pressure points, without undermining a collective agreement. This short, two-year agreement can meet these goals while providing security in times of great uncertainty for all public service workers. ”
The meeting came as the deal was sure to be approved after members of the largest public sector union, Fórsa, backed it yesterday.
Fórsa members voted 96% in favor of the agreement on a ballot with a turnout of more than 58%.
The Irish Secondary Teachers Association, the Irish Medical Organization and the Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists rejected the deal.
Talks on the next public sector wage deal are expected to begin mid-next year.
Online editors
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