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.

Much of the PSEU conference, which concludes today, will centre on how the government’s surprise decentralisation announcement in December will affect the union’s 9,000 members.

Although the PSEU has officially adopted a policy of neutrality towards the government’s plan to relocate more than 10,000 civil and public servants to 50 locations around the country, many members are angered by the manner in which the government is implementing its plan.

Numerous motions scheduled for debate today call for the union to condemn the use of decentralisation as a political tool and claim the move will result in a deterioration of services to the public.

In her opening address yesterday, Ms McSweeney also criticised An Post for failing to pay staff a 3% sustaining progress pay rise, as profits nose-dived in recent years. The company’s annual report, to be published next week, reveals an operating loss of €43 million last year, compared to €17.9 million the year before.

Eircom’s second flotation last month also came in for criticism for making huge profits on the back of sacrifices made by staff.