Media attacks on benchmarking unfair, says PSEU

CONSTANT media attacks on benchmarking awards received by public and civil servants are unjustified and unfair, the annual conference of the Public Service Executive Union (PSEU) heard yesterday.

Speaking yesterday PSEU president Rhona McSweeney told delegates that much media coverage of the benchmarking process overlooked the fact that the exercise was about equating public service pay with private sector salaries.

“To read some of the rubbish on the subjects from various sources one might think that we were engaged in some devilish plot rather than providing a rational means for the determination of public service pay,” she said, adding the union should not hesitate to defend benchmarking pay rises.