Hundreds of public servants could be entitled to 10% pay increase

Hundreds of public servants who previously worked outside the State could be in line for a 10% pay increase thanks to European Commission ruling secured by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation on behalf of two of its members in Cork.

According to the INMO, those two nurses, who returned from working in the public service in Britain to work in Ireland, were put on 2011 new entrant salary scales when they took up jobs here.

The union argued they should have received 2010 salary scales which were 10% higher. The matter was mediated upon by the Labour Relations Commission, Labour Court and, according to the INMO, “latterly the EU Commission as a breach of article 45 TFEU as the fundamental right of EU workers to freedom of movement in the EU”.

On October 14, the commission confirmed its intention to serve infringement procedures on the State as a breach of article 45 TFEU and this week, the INMO said, the HSE committed to full reversal and retrospection to the two workers.

“This is a landmark victory for our members who had the courage and tenacity to challenge an incorrect pay scale which breached their rights as EU citizens,” said INMO industrial relations officer Patsy Doyle. “We will now reach out to all other disadvantaged INMO members and demand that their salaries are reviewed and upwardly adjusted.”

The decision could affect many other grades of public servant to whom the 2011 scale was applied when they may have been entitled to the 2010 amount. Those include civil servants, workers in the education sector and clerical grades as well as many professionals across the health service.