Any deal to succeed Partnership 2000 must be "front-loaded" with substantial pay increases in the first year, IMPACT's general secretary, Mr Peter McLoone, has warned. He said that if employers failed to move from their position of 2.5 per cent per annum the talks could end "very quickly".
He accepted there was growing tension between public- and private-sector workers over terms conceded under successive national agreements. However, he said that if there were provision for greater flexibility in the private sector then public service workers looking for similar increases would have to take on board issues "of performance and change".
Mr McLoone, who represents more than 35,000 public-service employees, also challenged the Government estimates on public service pay. He said the 8.6 per cent increase cited by the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, misrepresented the situation. The amount set aside for pay-rate increases in 2000 was only 3.5 per cent. "The remainder is made up of expanded health and education services, worth 3.4 per cent, and `technical factors' such as pensions, worth 1.4 per cent."