2% PAY RISE FOR 340,000 WORKERS
Restoration of austerity cuts € 150m fund for new review
AROUND 340,000 public service workers will get a 2% pay increase following a deal hammered out with trade unions.
They will receive 1% next October and the other half a year later.
But high earners on more than € 70,000 may not get the increases.
The pay hikes are the restoration of austerity cuts brought in after the financial crash and recession.
Kevin Call in an, of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, said: “This agreement builds on recent momentum to improve our public services and the lives of those who depend on and deliver them.
“The pay terms represent a realistic and acceptable approach to incomes and they are substantially skewed towards lower earners in a very challenging context of limited resources.”
Unpaid working hours introduced originally under the Haddington Road Agreement in 2013 will be examined as part of a new review to be established in March.
A €150 million fund is to be established to deal with issues arising from the review.
There is also a plan n to deal with lower pay for teachers recruited in recent years.
Public service management and trade unions rep re-esen ting State employees reached the agreement yesterday.
Unions said the proposed a g re ement was weight ed to towards lower- income civil a and public servants.
There will be of rise a 1% gross pay or € 500 a year, whichever is the greater, on October 1, 2021.
Unions added this would mean those on lower incomes would receive a larger percentage increase than higher paid staff.
Overtime and premium payment l e vel s will return to those that applied prior to the cuts in 2013.
The proposed new agreement retains existing arrangements and safeguards sought by unions against outsourcing of public services.