Fórsa has secured a range of pay deals in the state commercial and private sectors up to 2020. The pay improvements reflect continuing improvements in pay in both the public and private sectors, with many running over a three to four year period.

Fórsa official Johnny Fox recently outlined a number of the pay agreement details secured for the period to the Services and Enterprises divisional executive.

Dublin Airport Authority and Cork Airport

• Three year agreement running from 1st April 2017 to the 31st March 2020
• 3% annual increase in basic salary on the 1st April 2017, 2018 and 2019 
• New pay bands for management and professional grades
• Annual performance bonus
• Minimum 10% salary increase on promotion

The agreement follows a two year deal from 2014 to 2016 providing pay increases of 2.2% per annum, and the early restoration of pay cuts of 8% imposed as part of a cost recovery programme in 2012. The restoration was 18 months ahead of schedule.

Discussions are currently underway on restructuring proposals at Shannon Airport which is to be followed by pay negotiations. To pave the way for these discussions management agreed to the early restoration of pay cuts which restored approximately 8% of pay cuts to Fórsa members.

Aer Lingus

• 39 month agreement from April 2017 to June 2020
• 3% base salary increase on 1st April 2017
• 2.75% base salary increase on the 1st May 2018
• 2.75% on the 1st June 2019
• Additional percentage increases based on productivity to be negotiated locally
• Discussions to commence on establishing a company-wide profit sharing scheme.

Coillte

• 48 month agreement from January 2017 to December 2020
• Pay bands reduced from six bands to five bands: Minimum and maximum of each band will increase by 2% from 1st January 2017, by 1% from the 1st January 2019 and 1% from the 1st January 2020, with additional measures agreed for those whose salary is above or below the median pay band
• Performance related annual bonus of 5% of salary in the event company annual targets are achieved, with further potential increases for exceptional individual performance
• Minimum salary increase of 8% on promotion.

The agreement follows on from a 2012-16 agreement which achieved overall base pay increase of 4% and average performance increases of 2 to 3% per annum.

Johnny also outlined upcoming pay discussions in Irish Water, which could see a new pay model introduced for 2018 and 2019. In P&O Maritime the union and the company are due to conclude an extended pay agreement of up to three years' duration before the end of April.

At the Irish Aviation Authority, a four year pay deal, with 1.5% pay increases each year, is due to conclude at the end of 2019.

Congress advice

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions has advised affiliated unions in the private sector to seek compensation, where appropriate, for the “excessive costs” of housing, childcare and pensions, in addition to “a minimum pay increase of 3.1%” to take account of normal productivity and cost of living factors, for pay claims in 2018.

The Congress Private Sector Committee issued the advisory on pay bargaining for 2018 last month to member unions in the private sector, pointing out that “through the normal collective bargaining processes and where appropriate, affiliate private sector unions should seek compensation for the excessive costs associated with housing, childcare provision and pensions.

“This is in addition to a minimum pay increase of 3.1% to take account of normal productivity and cost of living factors,” according to the Congress bulletin.

The bulletin notes that workers in Ireland endure the second highest childcare costs in the OECD, while many workers on average wages struggle to rent or buy homes, across the country. In large urban areas such as Dublin housing can account for up to 47% of total essential expenditure.

It references detailed research from the Nevin Economic Research Institute (NERI) on the high cost of housing, childcare, pensions and on wage trends, and notes that the Minimum Wage would have to increase by over 24% to reach the level of the Living Wage.

It also notes that labour productivity is forecast to increase by up to 1.4% in 2018 and 2019.