Public service union negotiators recommend ‘coordinated campaign’ including industrial action ballots

Public service union negotiators have recommended a coordinated union campaign on public service pay, supported by industrial action ballots, to address the impact of soaring inflation on low and middle earners.

In a letter to members of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions’ Public Services Committee (PSC), the committee’s lead negotiators said that the Government was breaching the current public service pay agreement by failing to conclude a review of the Building Momentum pay terms.

They also said they were no longer prepared to discuss an extension of the Building Momentum agreement, to cover pay in 2023, until improved terms for 2021-2022 are agreed.

Pay talks with the Government at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) stalled in mid-June when unions rejected an offer of a combined 5 per cent pay increase over two years.

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Ictu said at the time that the offer fell “far short” of projected inflation and could not credibly be put to union members to vote on.

Minister for Public Expenditure Micheal McGrath later defended the Government offer saying it was a good one and there had to be a “realistic basis” for a deal.

Their letter to PSC affiliates, who collectively represent over 90 per cent of Ireland’s public servants, union negotiators said the review clause in Building Momentum was invoked when inflation was 5.6 per cent, Government responded in May, when inflation had reached 7 per cent but it is now at 9.1 per cent.

The unions say their members are increasingly frustrated at the delay in the process, coupled with “mixed messages” coming from senior Government sources.

In a statement, the PSC accused the Government of “continued foot-dragging” and it seemed clear that the Government does not intend to conclude the review of Building Momentum.

“On this basis, we have told the WRC that we are no longer in a position to continue discussions on an extension of Building Momentum, to cover pay in 2023, until the review of Building Momentum is satisfactorily concluded. If there is no extension in place before the current agreement expires at the end of December, we will have to submit pay claims for next year,” the statement said.

“We are also recommending a coordinated union campaign, supported by industrial action ballots, to achieve a credible pay offer for 2021-2022 for public servants who, in common with workers across the economy, are bearing the full brunt of large and sustained increases in the cost of home heating, fuel, food, housing, childcare, and many other essentials.

“We recommend that unions begin practical arrangements for balloting, to begin next month, pending a meeting of the Public Services Committee to co-ordinate the campaign.

A Department of Public Expenditure spokesman said: “The Government is on record as saying it wishes to reach an appropriate agreement with public service unions that strikes the correct balance between providing for both continued investment in our public services and an approach to public service pay that is both fair and affordable, taking account of cost of living pressures but also the wider economic environment.

“We will continue to engage constructively with the assistance of the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) to establish how this objective can be met.

“We are available to enter into further discussions with the public service unions under the auspices of the WRC and contact is continuing in that regard.”