Unfair portrayal of craft pay increases

I AM concerned at some of the alarmist media reports that the 17% pay increase awarded by the Labour Court to craftworkers in local authorities and health services is some sort of “super benchmarking” exercise that could “spark leapfrog pay epidemic”, to quote just two of the more exaggerated descriptions used.

The fact is that the analogue framework for negotiating increases for craftworkers in the public service long predates benchmarking and, hopefully, will continue for many years to come because it is a simple, sensible and time tested way of setting these rates.

It is also extremely transparent.