SIPTU chief wants public servants to get extra €3,500 a year
PUBLIC sector staff will get a €3,500 annual pay hike at taxpayers’ expense if union pressure succeeds.
SIPTU chief Jack O’Connor says a key demand will be the scrapping of the pension levy Government employees pay, as union officials prepare to meet Brendan Howlin tomorrow.
He is also seeking pay rises and more jobs in the sector.
The Public Expenditure Minister has already indicated he is willing to give civil servants a pay rise, in a move that has been linked to the upcoming General Election.
The controversial pension levy was introduced in 2009 by the late Brian Lenihan and averages 7.5 per cent of public sector salaries, which works out at €47,788 for last year. And 7.5 per cent of that would give them €3,584 extra in their pay packets.
With the end of austerity now in sight, union heads want pay restoration that would boost the take-home wages of the country’s 290,000 public servants. They already enjoy generous pensions, which are worth half their final salary on retirement, along with lump sums worth one-and-a-half times their salary, and all of which are funded by the taxpayer.
Mr O’Connor has also called for pay rises for the public sector.
However, the general president of SIPTU, who is on a salary of €115,000, said any increase should not apply to politicians – and that he will not be getting a pay increase himself.
Reports last week suggested that Mr Howlin will accept pay rises worth €800 a year on average, for gardaí, teachers, nurses and all other public servants.
Mr O’Connor said: ‘I’m not involved in the talks but we have to try and ensure that we begin the task of restoring pay that was dismantled on foot of the economic collapse. I don’t want to be proscriptive or specific, seeing that I’m not involved in those talks myself, but I think it’s fair to say that the aspirations of the people who work in the public service, who are involved in the trade unions, are quite well-documented.’
He called for the abolition of the pension levy, restoration of pay and the ending of the moratorium on hiring new staff in the sector, as well as ‘reaffirmation and strengthening of commitments against privatisation and outsourcing’.
The Labour supporter added: ‘I think we have to start with the ending of the pension levy. I think there is some agreement from the other side of Government, judging by statements emanating from some people on the Fine Gael side, that that might be the best way to start.’
Arguing that any pay rises should not go to politicians, he said: ‘I think that people in public life at that level [politics] should refrain from taking pay increase. I won’t be taking any pay rise.’
He told the annual James Connolly commemoration at Arbour Hill in Dublin t hat t he emphasis in tomorrow’s talks should be on the lower paid.
There is no case for cutting the top rate of tax, he said, adding that resources should be spent on cutting the universal social charge where it hits workers on the standard rate.
He said: ‘I think there is a case for pay increases for people who are in employment in the public service at the point where that can be afforded. But I think the priority should be to give effect to the commitments in the Croke Park and Haddington Road agreements, which entail prioritising the people on lower pay.’
However, Renua Ireland l eader Lucinda Creighton has said that pay restoration should be applied fairly to both public and private sector workers, and she believes this can be achieved through tax reform.
‘What we’re in favour of, in order to ensure that all workers benefit from the modest improvements in the economy is to ensure that we change the tax bands and if we do that we’ll actually benefit all workers, public and private sector,’ Ms Creighton said yesterday.
Politicians should not get pay hike