Public sector pay hikes ‘would just be auction politics’
GOVERNMENT plans to give pay hikes to almost 300,000 public sector workers have been denounced as blatant auction politics by small business chiefs.
Mark Fielding, of the Irish Small and Medium Enterprises association criticised the talks which start today between Brendan Howlin and the unions.
He said they should be postponed until after the election.
Meanwhile, Taoiseach Enda Kenny insisted that any pay increases for State staff should be linked to productivity. But SIPTU chief Jack O’Connor said that would undermine working conditions, and so it would be resisted.
While Government sources have already indicated that €250million is on offer to the state staff from taxpayer funds, Mr O’Connor has made demands that would lead to them getting a bonus of €3,500 each, on average, in pension levy changes.
Mr Fielding told the Irish Daily Mail last night that pay hikes to just one section of society would not be a just redistribution of wealth an improving economy.
When asked about Mr O’Connor’s demand, he said: ‘It’s a huge amount to consider giving and it’s obviously com- pletely unfair because nobody in the private sector, working on a small to medium salary, could hope to get anything near that.’
He also called for a postponement of the pay negotiations until after the General Election next year so that auction politics could be minimised.
‘A postponement would allow us to step back and to look at it properly, and independently,’ Mr Fielding said.
‘I think it’s obvious that we can’t see the pay in the public sector restored to the levels they were at in the golden age, at a time, remember, when two benchmarking processes collapsed because of unreasonable demands from that side.
‘It’s estimated that each additional 1 per cent of public sector wages restored could cost in the region of €150million.
‘We can’t afford that now – nor then really – and I think it’s disgraceful that the Government is rushing into this. ‘It’s plain and simple auction politics as they try and win the votes of 300,000 public sector workers,’ he added.
Pay talks between the unions and Minister for Public Expendi ture and Reform, Brendan Howlin, formally start today.
Mr O’Connor has already set out the stall for his members – and the rest of the country’s 290,000 public servants – when he said on Sunday that the first item on the agenda should be the repealing of the average 7.5 per cent levy on public sector salaries that helps to fund their generous pension entitlements.
With average pay in the public sector hitting almost €48,000, according to the Central Statistics Office, this would amount to an extra €3,500, on average, in the pockets of those working in the public sector, if it was conceded all in one go.
It would also put a €1billion dent in the national balance sheet in a single year if 290,000 workers were all given back €3,500 each, on average.
Government sources have suggested that only €250million is on offer.
The Taoiseach was in Mayo yesterday for the launch of a new national broadband project in association with Eircom and while there he said that reform of working practices would be central to any new pay deal.
‘Brendan Howlin has made this perfectly clear,’ he said.
‘Obviously the emergency legislation which was introduced a number of years ago is still in place, the Haddington Road lasts until the end of June next year, so the minister is making arrangements to begin discussions with the trade unions about that position.
‘And he’s also made it perfectly clear that continued reform and
‘Trying to win 300,000 votes’ ‘The Government is rushing in’
productivity are part of the changing technology that exists in the country today,’ he added.
Mr O’Connor responded, saying that considerable reform has been delivered already and suggested that any further changes could undermine his members’ working conditions.
‘The Government has achieved a great amount of productivity over the last number of years, we’ve reduced the numbers employed by about 30,000, which is about 15 per cent. They reduced the pay by on average just in excess of 15 per cent and the numbers of people they are providing services for have gone up by about 300,000 or a little more.’