IMPACT has warned that special pay rises for selected groups of public servants will inevitably bring a return to ‘leapfrogging’ pay claims and industrial unrest. Speaking at the union’s biennial conference in Killarney last week, IMPACT deputy general secretary Kevin Callinan said the union would not leave anyone behind on the journey to pay recovery.
Kevin’s statement followed newspaper speculation that the Government is considering special pay deals for certain groups.
Kevin said IMPACT’s priority was a “fair and balanced” unwinding of the ‘FEMPI’ legislation, which imposed public service pay cuts. “Politicians of virtually every party now agree that we are enjoying better than expected economic growth. If this continues, IMPACT will expect an acceleration of the income recovery that finally got underway with the Lansdowne Road agreement," he said.
The conference backed a motion calling for income recovery in the public service, the voluntary sector, and in viable commercial enterprises in the private and state sectors.
No longer in reverse
Outgoing IMPACT president Jerry King insisted that talks on a successor to the Lansdowne Road agreement must begin within 12 months, before the current agreement expires. “FEMPI will need to be unwound at a faster pace, with accelerated pay restoration for all public servants. The workers’ bus may only be in first gear, but we are no longer in reverse,” he said.
IMPACT also said unions must be involved in the establishment of the proposed Public Service Pay Commission. IMPACT general secretary Shay Cody called for an overall approach to pay bargaining that covers every public service grade and profession.
He said any new system must be based on negotiated pay rounds that could be accepted or rejected by membership ballots, not the imposition of recommendations by independent pay commissions as occurs in the UK.
He also called for a single body to conduct periodic reviews of public service grades that experience significant changes in responsibilities or specific labour market challenges, including recruitment and retention difficulties.
Meanwhile, the conference called for the ‘living wage,’ currently set at €11.50 an hour, to be the absolute minimum in the public service. IMPACT official Angela Kirk said the Government’s “meagre” minimum wage target of €10.50 an hour over the next five years fell well short of a living wage.
Related RTÉ report: IMPACT call for acceleration of pay restoration.
