In this issue
IMPACT young members' group event - The Cost of Living for Young Workers
Pay deal looks set for success
Progress on IOT fixed-term posts
Temporary health staff need support
Childcare cash and paid leave demanded
IMPACT prepares gender pay gap submission
Pay deal looks set for success
Public Services Committee to meet on 18th September
by Bernard Harbor
 
The new Public Service Stability Agreement (PSSA) looks set to gain majority union support when the ICTU Public Services Committee (PSC) meets on 18th September. Voting strength at the PSC reflects each union’s membership in the public service, and strong support in ballots of IMPACT, Siptu, AHCPS and TEEU members have already virtually guaranteed a majority in favour.

The votes of other unions that have recommended acceptance – including the CPSU and PSEU – will likely mean a clear overall majority in favour of the deal. IMPACT members backed the proposed agreement by a margin of 78% to 22% on a 52% turnout, with just five branches voting against the deal.

The PSSA will see the restoration of pay cuts and a significant proportion of the so-called pension levy for the vast majority of public servants, including new entrants. The first pay increase under the deal is due next January.

Announcing the outcome of its ballot in July, IMPACT called for immediate talks on remaining pay iniquities for staff who entered the public service after January 2011. The deal facilitates negotiations on the so-called ‘new entrants’ issue, which saw lower pay scales introduced for staff who joined the public service in 2011 and after. Although the scales were merged in 2013, it still takes ‘new entrants’ two years longer than other public servants to reach the top of their pay scales.

IMPACT believes the PSSA process could result in the removal of two incremental points from most pay scales, bringing faster progress for new entrants, and an equal scale-length for staff who joined the public service before and after 2011.

Separately, the union responded to new CSO figures that showed public service earnings growing faster than private sector wages last year. IMPACT national secretary Bernard Harbor welcomed news that earnings were up across the economy.

“After nearly a decade of pay stagnation, it’s encouraging to see modest pay recovery happening across the economy, although pay adjustments are still lagging behind economic growth projections for 2017 as measured by both GDP and GNP,” he said.

The CSO figures show that the difference between pay recovery in the public and private sectors in the year up to end-June 2017 was almost entirely due to a statistical quirk caused by the employment of temporary census staff in 2016. This deflated the public service figures in 2016, rather than inflating them in 2017.

“Most public servants have simply received a modest pay increase of about €19 a week before tax last April, which is in line with average pay movements in the rest of the economy,” said Harbor.
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