Pay Commission report: ICTU seeks accelerated pay recovery for State employees

The Public Services Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) said, following the publication of the Pay Commission report, it was time to move swiftly into talks on accelerated pay recovery for State employees.

It said it noted the commission’s conclusions that there was now near-parity between average public service pay and private sector earnings, and that average public service earnings were currently 8 per cent lower than in 2008.

It said it had anticipated the finding that public service pensions were, on average, more valuable than the average available in the private sector, and that pay negotiations should address this in the context of the unwinding measures imposed under financial emergency legislation including the pension levy.

“Our priorities in the talks will be to restore incomes as quickly as is sustainably possible, and to protect the value of retirement incomes.”

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The Public Services Committee said public servants currently paid more than 20 per cent of their earnings above €28,750 towards their pensions, once regular pension contributions, PRSI and the pension levy were taken into account.

Recruitment and retention

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) said the Government must engage in forthcoming talks to address the problems affecting recruitment and retention of staff in the nursing and midwifery sector, as identified in the report.

Dr Ann Hogan, president of the Irish Medical Organisation, said: "We have argued long and hard that Ireland was facing a problem of recruiting and retaining doctors within our public health services. We hope that with the publication of this report from the commission, Government will now seek to take proactive and significant measures to find a solution and set out a roadmap for action. We can't afford the luxury of waiting around."

Fianna Fáil spokesman on Public Expenditure Dara Calleary said it was vital that public sector workers and the public who relied on their services benefitted from economic growth on a sustainable basis over the coming years and the Public Service Pay Commission report would help achieve that goal.

“The Public Service Pay Commission is clear on the need to ensure that any future pay rises are based within the fiscal rules and limits of the State’s resources. Simply put, the next agreement must be placed on fiscally prudent and sustainable basis. Its considerations on pay equity and the value of pensions, as well as the future of the pension-related deduction [pension levy] should form a central part of the negotiation process. The FEMPI legislation should be prudently unwound over the coming years, delivering real benefits to workers and the public alike.”

Pension restoration

The Alliance of Retired Public Servants (ARPS) expressed its disappointment that the report "failed to address the issue of pension restoration for the country's 140,000 retired public servants".

“The Programme for Partnership Government commits the current administration to fully restore pensions for retired public servants by 2021 and the alliance is looking to bring this timeline forward. On average, about 4,000 retired public servants die each year so if the current completion date of 2021 for full restoration is stuck with, then over 40,000 people will have died by that time on reduced pensions – pensions that they contributed to during their working lives. This is why we think it’s only fair that the Government should bring forward the date from 2021.”