Unions would be mad not to take pay deal

IF THE public sector unions have any sense they will grab the new pay package on offer before the real impact of Brexit begins to hit home. The deal will cost Irish taxpayers an extra €880m over the next three years. It does not meet all the union demands and will face opposition from many teachers, nurses and gardaí who feel their particular concerns are not adequately addressed.

But, speaking on behalf of the Impact trade union, Bernard Harbor described it as the best set of proposals it could get at the moment and added that there was something in it for everyone. He meant, of course, everyone in the public sector. Private sector workers and those without jobs will rightly ask “what’s in it for us?”

Minister Paschal Donohoe was less than convincing on this when questioned on RTÉ yesterday.

He suggested that the pay improvements were pretty much in line with the average pay rises in the private sector. Try telling that to the very many employees in the private sector who have little or no prospect of a pay increase.

But it could lead to a period of industrial peace in the public sector if it’s accepted by the majority of the public sector unions and those who vote ‘no’ fall into line. They would do well to look at what may happen in the UK.

Another Impact official, Andy Pike, has warned that post-Brexit Britain was set to become a low tax, low regulation, low wage “beacon for exploitation”, and he called on politicians, trade unions and civil society organisations to act to prevent the same thing happening here.