Next public pay deal may provide for some local bargaining

The next public-service pay agreement may include provision for some element of local bargaining in various parts of the State sector rather than simply involving an across-the-board arrangement.

The Irish Times understands that in a confidential memo to Cabinet a fortnight ago, Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe said preliminary talks with public-service trade unions about a successor to the current agreement had looked at a process involving a local bargaining component. However, he cautioned that there had been no decisions as of yet.

It is understood that he maintained that a one-size-fits-all approach – the format for all of the public-service agreements since the Croke Park accord in 2010 and which have essentially seen the vast bulk of State employees receive the same levels of increases – may not be backed by all on the trade union side.

The current public-service agreement is scheduled to expire at the end of 2020 and full-scale talks on a successor deal would have to commence by the spring or early summer of next year to allow for unions to ballot members on the terms.

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Sources said the Minister pointed out that there had been considerable industrial unrest in the public service this year and that 27,000 days had been lost to strikes in the first quarter of the year – a figure which relates mainly to work stoppages by nurses.

The idea of the next public-service accord containing some form of local bargaining clause to deal with specific issues in particular sectors has been floated privately by some trade union figures over recent months.

Any such local bargaining provision would allow for negotiations on specific issues in different sectors such as health, Civil Service, local government, education, gardaí or the military on top of a central element.

The last two pan-public service agreements faced difficulties in dealing with issues raised by specific groups – claims by gardaí in 2016 and nurses in 2018-2019. In both instances the Government, according to many industrial relations observers, went beyond the terms of the accords to reach a solution.

Nurses’ dispute

Meanwhile, new official figures suggest the cost of the settlement of the nurses’ dispute last February will be greater than the amount set out by the Government at the time.

The Government originally said in February that the Labour Court proposals to bring an end to the nurses' dispute would cost an additional €10 million to €15 million this year and an additional €30 million to €35 million next year when projected new productivity measures and cost savings were taken into account.

The Department of Health has refused to set out the exact net cost of the nurses' settlement this year.

Minister for Health Simon Harris told Fianna Fáil health spokesman Stephen Donnelly in an answer to a parliamentary question last week that the cost of the nurses' settlement, as well as other industrial relations issues and the cervical check ex-gratia scheme, contributed €56 million out of the total €335 million in supplementary spending in the health service which the Dáil will be asked to approve this year.

Asked for a breakdown of the exact amount allocated to the nurse settlement in the supplementary estimate, the department said: "Details of supplementary budgets are not released until approved by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health.

“With regard to the costs of the nursing agreement, the full costs involved will be dependent on nurses/midwives choosing to apply for the enhanced practice roles now available to them (as part of the settlement deal). Similarly, cost savings will also be contingent on the success of the new enhanced role and the rollout of the framework on safe staffing and skill mix.

“Health service management are committed to the implementation of all aspects of the agreement and this will be closely monitored through an HSE implementation plan. Funding for the implementation of the nursing agreement has been provided in Budget 2020 and it is expected that further details will be set out in the HSE’s National Service Plan.”