Public sector unions to take five weeks to consider 6.5% pay offer

Public sector unions will take five weeks to consider the Government’s revised 6.5 per cent pay offer before taking a collective decision on whether to accept it or reject the package.

While the suspension of planned balloting for industrial action has been recommended by negotiators, unions have warned that a failure by Government to deliver on cost-of-living measures in the forthcoming Budget will impact on the decision being made by workers on the proposed public pay deal.

The Budget on September 27th will be delivered 10 days before unions are due to make a decision on the proposed agreement.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin welcomed the successful conclusion of talks on Tuesday, describing the agreement reached between negotiators as a fair one.

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“We’re going through a very difficult period, economically, because of the war in Ukraine. That is a fundamental factor in all of this and particularly on the energy prices, which is feeding into inflation and so therefore, we need [industrial relations] harmony [and] need to work through this crisis in a collective way,” the Taoiseach said.

He added the Budget and its cost of living package would further benefit families struggling to make ends meet.

Talks on the new public sector pay deal concluded on Tuesday morning with unions being offered a 6.5 per cent increase over two years under proposals set out by the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC). This is a 1.5 per cent increase over the 5 per cent offer made in June which was rejected by the unions at the time.

The proposals include three phases of pay increases. The first would be a 3 per cent increase this year, back-dated to February 2nd this year. The second would be a 2 per cent increase from March 1st, 2023 while the third would be another 1.5 per cent increase - or a minimum of €750 - from October 1st next year.

The 6.5 per cent is in addition to the 2 per cent increases for most public sector workers under the existing Building Momentum deal, with half of this already in place and the second 1 per cent - or €500 which ever is greater - to kick in next October 1st.

Minister for Public Expenditure Micheal McGrath said the pay agreement would cost €1.6 billion spread across three years 2022, 2023 and 2024, of which €1.4 billion would come from the “expenditure envelope” in Budget 2023.

“I think we have achieved a fair and a balanced outcome overall, which does go some of the way to supporting public servants in respect of dealing with the cost of living pressures that are there,” he told RTÉ radio’s News at One.

Mr McGrath also welcomed the reforms that could be carried forward as a result of the agreement. There would be a capacity to modernise and make the public service more efficient with greater flexibility.

The main prize from the agreement, added Mr McGrath was industrial relation stability. Three of the six increases will be targeted towards lower paid workers.

Separate to this process the Government would also be doing more for the public to cope with the cost of living increases, he said.

The proposals come after 19 hours of talks at the Workplace Relations Commission between the unions and officials from the Department of Public Expenditure which concluded before 7am on Tuesday.

[ Q+A: What chance is there of a deal being done at the public sector pay talks? ]

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions’ (Ictu) public services committee (PSC) subsequently met to consider the proposals.

In a statement, Ictu said that the minimum payment of €750 a year from next October means the package would be worth 8 per cent to a worker earning €25,000 a year and 7 per cent to a person on €37,500 a year.

The PSC meeting decided that individual unions should now consult members, through ballots and other means, on the package in advance of a collective decision on whether to accept or reject the package.

The collective decision will take place at a PSC meeting on Friday, October 7th, where voting will be weighted to reflect the number of public servants that each union represents.

Ictu president and PSC chairman Kevin Callinan said he believed the outcome was the best that could currently be achieved through negotiations.

“We’ll now be explaining this package to union members, who will have the final say in ballots. Neither side has achieved all it sought, but this package is a significant improvement on the pay terms of Building Momentum, and it is worth more to those who need it most.

“This underlines the importance of the unions’ decision to invoke the review clause in the current agreement,” he added.

“Over the past weeks, [Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Michael McGrath] and his Government colleagues have repeatedly promised to supplement pay measures with other cost-of-living supports through the Labour-Employer Economic Forum (LEEF) process and the forthcoming Budget,” he added. “Workers will now expect delivery on that promise. A Government failure to deliver will certainly impact the ballots that will shortly get under way.”

PSC secretary John King said the committee was also recommending that planned industrial action ballots be suspended while unions consult on the WRC package.

The statement said that Mr McGrath said a revised offer was final, although union negotiators held out for an improved sum for lower paid public servants.

The executive of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (Agsi) met on Tuesday to consider the proposals.

General secretary Antoinette Cunningham said: “We feel that these proposals are the best that could have been achieved during these challenging negotiations.

“AGSI members will have the ultimate decision to make when a ballot is conducted in the coming weeks.”

She added: “We have seen inflation continue to rise in recent weeks, and we are fully aware of the financial pressures that our members are under and the challenging economic environment we are in. These proposals will go some way to meeting those challenges.”

She thanked the WRC for its assistance in reaching the proposals which she said: “were negotiated in a difficult and challenging environment.”