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IMPACT prepares for income recovery
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| IMPACT general secretary Shay Cody launches the union's research on incomes, earnings and employment during the recession. Photo: Dominick Walsh. |
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IMPACT has set out its priorities for pay and income restoration arising from a “slow and fragile” economic recovery. General secretary Shay Cody told the union’s conference earlier this month that IMPACT would lodge a pay claim when the State’s finances improved. “In practical terms, that means when it is clear that the Government is on target to achieve the Euro requirement of a deficit of less than 3% of GDP in 2015 – and they are predicting that they will,” he said. The conference adopted motions instructing the union to pursue income recovery in all sectors – public, private, community and commercial semi-state. Shay Cody said the union would: - Pursue pay increases in the public service once the Government meets its target of bringing the deficit below 3% of GDP, which is predicted to happen in 2015
- Seek the restoration of frozen increments in the community and voluntary sector, and pursue pay increases in the sector to match any movement in the public service
- Seek and support a continued “successful wage round” in the private sector among companies that can afford to pay
- Work with other unions to make the recently re-established Joint Labour Committees effective in protecting pay and working conditions in the economy’s lowest paid sectors, and
- Continue to prioritise job creation as the core economic policy because employment is the biggest determinate of income for most individuals and their families.
Mr Cody said employment “must remain a top priority across the union movement, including among public service unions.”
Also speaking at the conference, the Tánaiste said rising wages were the sign of a healthy economy. On public service pay, Mr Gilmore said: “Next time the Government and unions sit down to talk, it will be to talk about increasing pay not reducing it.” Referring to the legislation that underpinned pay cuts in the Haddington Road agreement, he said he “looked forward to the day when the FEMPI legislation becomes a thing of the past.”
Shay Cody said IMPACT would now consult with other public service unions on how best to develop a pay claim. “We need to honour the commitment that lower paid workers should be prioritised, but acknowledge that it will be difficult to secure a critical mass of public servants to support a claim that only applied to those who earn less than €35,000,” he said. He outlined two possible ways of approaching this issue: - Considering whether unions could rally around a flat-rate increase “as a way to deliver on the promise [to lower-paid public servants] while commencing income recovery for all,” and
- Considering whether unions should seek a reduction in the pension levy rather than increases in gross wages.
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