A meeting of ICTU’s Public Services Committee (PSC) has backed the union negotiators’ view that the Government’s recent pay offer could not credibly be put to ballot while low and middle-income workers struggle with soaring prices, and that an improved offer was needed to make further talks on public service pay worthwhile.
In a letter to the Workplace Relations Commission’s (WRC) director-general Liam Kelly after the meeting, PSC chair Kevin Callinan said public service unions had expected an improved Government pay offer to be made following the Tánaiste’s comments on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland programme last Wednesday (22nd June). Mr Varadkar said the Government wanted to reengage in the WRC-brokered talks, and that it was prepared to make “a further offer.”
But Mr. Callinan said that, despite helpful informal contacts with the WRC, he’d received no indication that Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER) officials had been sanctioned to make an improved offer. Rather, DPER officials had informed the WRC that “the Government needs more time to reflect on its position,” he said.
Mr. Callinan said that, in common with workers across the economy, public servants were currently bearing the full brunt of large and sustained increases in the cost of home heating, fuel, food, housing, childcare, and many other essentials.
He wrote: “The PSC triggered the Building Momentum review clause almost four months ago. Our objective was to review and improve the pay element of the agreement, taking account of higher-than-expected inflation in both 2021 and 2022.
“When it eventually responded in May, the Government indicated that it also wanted to discuss – and achieve certainty on – public service pay in 2023. The PSC officers were open to this on the explicit basis that it could not be a substitute for a review and improvement of the 2021-2022 (inclusive) pay terms.
“As you are aware, the Government has offered an additional increase of just 2.5% for the (2021-2022) period of the current agreement, which is now under review with the assistance of the WRC. This is clearly inadequate when inflation is likely to be at least 9% over that period.
“It, therefore, remains our position that this offer cannot credibly be put to ballots of low and middle-income public servants who, in common with workers across the economy, are currently bearing the full brunt of large and sustained increases in the cost of home heating, fuel, food, housing, childcare, and many other essentials.
“The PSC endorsed this position, which cannot change unless the Government side is prepared to make an improved offer for 2021-2022. The PSC also agreed that its officers could not credibly reach an agreement about pay in 2023 before the current pay terms of Building Momentum have been properly reviewed and adequately improved.”
The unions understand that the Government would prefer an extension of Building Momentum to be agreed and ratified prior to the October Budget statement. “Although this would require individual union ballots to be conducted, it remains achievable if the Government side is prepared to make an improved offer, and if we can reach agreement on an outcome that can be credibly put to ballot,” said Mr. Callinan.
