Put public workers ‘first in pay queue’
Brendan Lawless, president of the Public Service Executive Union, which represents executive grades in the civil service, admitted it would be premature to suggest at this point that the “dark days” of austerity are behind the country.
However, addressing delegates at the union’s annual conference in Killarney, Co Kerry, he said it would also be remiss not to note the signs of recovery coming back into the economy.
He pointed to figures which showed that a public servant on the maximum of their pay scale in 2009 at €50,000 per annum is now €483 per month worse off.
He said public sector unions had been told by Brendan Howlin, the public expenditure and reform minister, during talks on the Haddington Road Agreement that the adjustments being sought were to be the “last big ask” of public servants in the lifetime of the Government.
“He has since reiterated this but he and his Government have to be held to this,” said Mr Lawless.
“Not only that, but some Government ministers and members of the opposition are now speaking of the potential for tax cuts. This kind of talk overlooks the fact that a disproportionate amount of the burden of adjustment in our public finances has fallen on public servants. Or, to put it more bluntly, if the Government has scope for easing on austerity, we want our money back.”
He said that, in better circumstances, the people subjected to paycuts and disimprovements in conditions, who have paid a disproportionate amount for the economic collapse, “are entitled to be first in the queue for any restoration”.
“That is only fair,” said Mr Lawless. “More than that, though, the message needs to go from public servants to the political system that tax cuts damage the ability to deliver public services, while those who have suffered disproportionately from austerity through income cuts and longer working hours deserve and, indeed, demand that they be treated fairly and that they begin restoration of their losses at the earliest opportunity.”
Tom Geraghty, the union’s general secretary, said a recovery in the economy could see a claim for pay restoration being lodged with the Government in 2015. That is the second such hint a such a move.
Earlier this month, Siptu leader Jack O’Connor said that, depending on economic growth, his union would look for a deal with the Government to come into effect before the Had-dington Road Agreement’s end date in June 2016.
