Pay increases: Union claims employers are hypocritical

PUBLIC service union IMPACT yesterday accused employers of double standards by demanding below inflation pay increases for ordinary workers while they award themselves big increases.

On the first day of the union’s biennial delegate conference in Kilkenny, union president Finbarr O’Driscoll said business leaders must accept the right of ordinary workers to demand wage increases that match inflation in the pay talks.

“We need to see some evidence that employers still see partnership as a two-way street, where all the parties make gains and sacrifices,” he said.

“But in recent months, we have witnessed emboldened employers, who are determined to row back on the rights and living standards that we have won for working people.”

Public sector unions will be particularly vociferous in the pay talks given the near non-existent increases they garnished during the latest benchmarking.

That process and the role of the public sector benchmarking body will come under intense scrutiny at the conference. The IMPACT executive has proposed a motion demanding a complete overhaul of benchmarking and its methodologies before public sector unions will sign up to another process. Also high on the conference agenda will be next week’s industrial action by 28,000 IMPACT members who are staff in the HSE and HSE-funded agencies.

From next Wednesday, they will refuse to co-operate with HSE advisers or the HSE “transformation programme”. They will also block non-emergency overtime and out-of-hours work and refuse to cover work and posts affected by the recruitment freeze.

The union claims the ban on new staff has hit existing services and delayed promised improvements in areas like primary care, disability services, mental health services and elder care. IMPACT has also accused the HSE of undermining a wide range of working conditions including cover for absences, promotions and career break returns.

Finally, the IMPACT conference will address the key issue which is affecting so many modern trade union movements, membership density. “Despite our growth, we all know there are many, many workers who should be in the union, but are not,” said Mr O’Driscoll.

“It is extremely irritating to see others benefit from our efforts and contribution, yet refuse to make a contribution themselves.

“If we fail to convince more people to join the union, it is only a matter of time before employers and governments identify our weaknesses and try to exploit them,” he said.