Public sector pay comment distorts reality and tries to cause division

YOUR editorial (September 22) totally distorts the reality of public service pay and seeks to divide public and private sector workers. It is so full of inaccuracies one can only wonder if the real objective is to reduce the pay and conditions of all workers.

Any comparison of the pay of public sector workers with the private sector is meaningless unless job-by-job comparisons are made.

The ERSI has done no such thing. In fact the only independent review which compared public service and private sector jobs on a like-by-like basis was the 2008 benchmarking review which found “there is little or no public service premium, if comparison is made with private sector employees in large establishments” which, the report notes, “accounts for a significant majority of public sector workers”.

Workers in larger organisations, private or public, tend to have greater promotional opportunities, longer service and a greater skills base.

An earlier benchmarking report also concluded that the levels of educational attainment in the public sector are “markedly ahead of the private sector”. All these affect pay levels.

Your comment that there was no justification for increases in the 2007 benchmarking exercise is baffling. Not only was there no benchmarking exercise that year but under the second benchmarking review published in 2008, public sector workers did not get any increase whatsoever as “a discount of 12% was applied for pension entitlements”. In other words, public service workers are foregoing pay increases in recognition of the cost of their pensions to their employers. You also fail to acknowledge the fact that the total pay rise for public sector workers over the two rounds of benchmarking was just 8.9%. Paying the public sector levy of 7.5% and the income levy of 2% has more than cancelled out the benchmarking increase.

Kevin P McCarthy

Meadowlands

Ardteegalvin

Killarney

Co Kerry