Benchmark negotiations to resume alongside pay deal talks

Talks between public sector unions and management on the implementation of benchmarking awards are to resume today in parallel with negotiations on a new national pay deal.

The benchmarking talks were adjourned yesterday to allow for discussions within the Civil Service on recruitment and promotion proposals.

Mr Peter McLoone, chairman of the ICTU's public services committee, said the outcome of such meetings would feed into today's talks with the hope of having a framework agreement by tonight.

A number of well-flagged, contentious issues have been "parked" until the closing phase of negotiations.

These include a Department of Education demand for teachers to hold parent-teacher meetings outside school hours, and a health service employers' requirement of industrial peace in its sector for the duration of the agreement.

Mr McLoone said he was optimistic that an agreement would be reached as all parties accepted that benchmarking and other income payments were conditional on modernisation.

"People are also conscious that the public out there are demanding greater access to services and are pushing all the time for higher standards and quality, and that is something workers and unions are very receptive to. People are not hostile to change," he said.

The deal, setting out a modernisation agenda for the public sector, will apply to 275,000 such employees, including nurses, gardaí and civil servants. Each sector will vote on the deal in the context of the proposed new successor national pay agreement to the PPF.

Parallel talks on non-pay-related issues linked to that deal are also to resume today at Government Buildings. The focus is to shift to the social agenda following discussion yesterday on economic development and equality.

In a draft agreement text circulated to the social partners, the Government yesterday reiterated its commitment to various policies in the Programme for Government, as well as initiatives agreed during recent pay talks.

These included an "affordable housing initiative", and an increase in the minimum wage to €7 an hour from February 1st, 2004.

The draft agreement identified the funding of infrastructure investment as a "key issue" and said that, in the current economic environment, public private partnerships would continue to be "actively pursued".

However, Father Sean Healy of the Conference of Religious of Ireland said the social partners wanted "evidence" rather than rhetoric at this stage. "There are serious questions concerning the Government's commitment to bringing Ireland's infrastructure and social provision up to EU standards," he said.

While there was scope for achieving better value for money, particularly in the healthcare sector, investment was needed on a scale equal to the scale of the problem, he remarked.

On accommodation, the draft agreement said: "Priority must be given to maximising the delivery of housing for lower-income groups and those with social and special housing needs." However, no targets were mentioned.

Elaborating on the affordable housing initiative, the document said it would involve the release of homes for sale to a target group defined in terms of income and/or housing need on a commercial basis.

"It is envisaged that this special initiative would utilise the new National Development Finance Agency in order to secure funds below normal market rates and thus allow the houses to be sold below normal market rates," the draft agreement said.