IMPACT: CSO pay figures do not show hit to public workers' pay

Trade union IMPACT has said the figures on public and private pay levels released today by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) did not give a full picture of the deterioration of public sector pay in 2009.

The CSO said the average weekly earnings of public servants rose by just less than 2% in the year to September last, compared to a fall of almost 3% for private sector workers.

The figures show that average weekly wages in the private sector fell from €624 to €607 during the period, while average public sector pay rose from €930 to €948 per week.

The data excludes the effect of the public sector pension levy.

IMPACT said: "The levy imposed an average deduction of 7% on all public sector workers' pay, including those on fixed-term contracts who will not benefit from a pension in respect of their public sector employment.

"The latest figures also do not include the effect of the massive pay cuts imposed on all public sector workers in the last budget. Those pay cuts averaged a further 7% across the public sector; workers earning below €35,000 saw 5% of their salaries cut.

"Figures released by the Minister for Social and Family Affairs yesterday (Wednesday 21st April) confirmed that 2,855 public sector workers are receiving Family Income Supplement (FIS) due to the low wages they are on. Again, this reality is not reflected in the CSO report."