Low-paid civil servants demand the closure of wages gap
Eoin Ronayne, general secretary of the Civil Public and Services Union (CPSU), said there was a “grossly unbalanced progression” in the wages of higher-paid public servants compared to their lower-paid colleagues.
“Lower-paid public servants were left behind by the Celtic Tiger,” he told delegates at the union’s annual conference in Killarney.
“The higher grades in the public sector steamed ahead and any analysis of the cuts shows they are still well ahead. As far as the CPSU is concerned, these pay restoration talks are only welcome and valid if they move to end the injustice of the gap built by their predecessors in government. We are not interested if that is not the goal and we will be out of there like a hare from a trap if their plan is otherwise.”
Mr Ronayne said what was needed was a commitment over the coming years to reverse the trend of increasing higher pay at the expense of the lower-paid through the use of mechanisms such as the flat rate increase.
“We will be realistic in terms of the timeline but we will only do business if the restoration in the first instance is flat rate, i.e. an increase which delivers real increases in take-home pay on the basis of a lump sum ongoing increase in pay which in practice closes the gap between lower pay rates and those at the very top,” he said.
The union’s deputy general secretary, Derek Mullen, said giving a clerical officer on €20,000 a flat rate increase of €2,000 is worth 10%, but the same amount is only a 2.5% increase at €80,000.
It is believed the pension levy may be the vehicle for flat-rate increases. If it were scrapped for earnings below €27,000, it would mean an €800 gain per year for all State employees.
At its conference the union representing higher-paid State employees, the Association of Higher Civil and Public Servants (AHCPS), said its members had seen cuts to their salaries of 20%-23% and that net pay was at the level it was more than 13 years ago. Salary cuts across the public service during the recession averaged 14%.
AHCPS general secretary, Ciaran Rohan also told his members: “We are leaders and we do some of the most complex and challenging jobs in the country and in most private sector companies that we deal with, we would earn well in excess of what we currently earn.”
Mr Rohan said his union welcomed the ending of the Government moratorium on filling posts in the civil service.
Earlier this week, Health Minister Leo Varadkar said he would like to have more staff in the health service — not fewer staff earning more.
However, Mr Rohan said:
“This should not be a matter of recruitment versus pay restoration. “Both issues should be addressed.”
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