FF wants pathway to €200m pay rises for teachers, nurses
FIANNA FÁIL will demand a timeline for pay rises worth up to €200m for more than 60,000 recent recruits to the public service during upcoming Budget negotiations.
The issue of equal pay for recruits is set to become a key battleground as talks get under way on the package of tax cuts, welfare hikes and spending to be hammered out over the next four weeks.
But Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe will face competing demands from unions for other wage hikes, on top of €1.1bn already committed for pay rises under a three-year wage deal. These include a claim by nurses for an acrossthe-board pay rise due to alleged recruitment problems and demands by workers in State-funded organisations for pay restoration.
Talks between senior union negotiators Shay Cody and Tom Geraghty and Government officials on the new entrants’ lower rates are set to start this week.
Fianna Fáil expenditure spokesperson Barry Cowen said some of the wage hikes should be included in this year’s Budget, but does not expect the full amount to be given in “one fell swoop”.
Mr Cowen said his party wants the Government to outline a pathway for pay restoration for recruits by amending the legislation that cut their pay. “We remain committed to this issue being resolved in time for it to be included in the budgetary package this year.
“We know it has a cost of €200m. We don’t expect it in one fell swoop, but for both parties to agree a pathway.”
Teachers have threatened to strike if the issue is not resolved. Organisations representing medical consultants have argued that the discrimination is proving very costly, as it is preventing the provision of quality hospital care due to vacancies. Meanwhile, nurses want a pay rise that would put their wages on a par with health professionals including physiotherapists and radiographers.
Former finance minister Brian Lenihan announced the cuts to new recruits’ pay in 2010, and they went on rates 10pc lower than longer-serving colleagues. However, the 10pc cut was replaced with two lower extra points at the bottom of the pay scales under the Haddington Road agreement in 2013. This meant that new entrants after 2011 went on the same scale as their colleagues, but it took them two years longer to reach the maximum.
The gross pay bill is expected to reach €17.4bn this year – only €110m lower than its peak in 2009. But it is set to rise due to recruitment in health, education and the Garda.