Government wants unions to re-affirm commitments on disputes

The Government wants public service unions to re-affirm their commitment to deal with disputes through agreed means as part of a new arrangement on pay restoration for State employees.

A draft document circulated by Government negotiators at the public service pay restoration talks on Wednesday urged the use of binding arbitration to settle industrial relations rows.

The draft maintained that no strike or other forms of industrial action would be permitted to deal with issues covered by the agreement.

It isunderstood that the Government wanted unions to re-affirm their commitment to industrial relations peace and the provisions for binding arbitration which were set out in the Croke Park and Haddington Road accords because they believed there had been some “slippage” in this area inrecent times.

The draft Government paper also signalled that there should be greater scope to put in place changes to staff rosters.

It said that roster amendments and work practice changes should be authorised to enhance productivity and service quality.

One source said the management side had floated the suggestion that the possibility of setting rosters on an annual basis should be explored as a option in some cases.

As expected the Government’s paper did not deal with the issue of money for staff.

Public service trade unions are expected to give their formal response to the Government’s draft paper when the talks resume on Thursday.

Other non-pay issues which have been raised in the talks by trade unions -- such as additional working hours which staff have to work without extra pay, flexitime restrictions and out-sourcing -- are also likely to be discussed on Thursday.

The Government is likely to oppose any move by trade unions to seek to reverse productivity concessions set out in previous agreements such as the provision of a longer working week.

Unions and Government representatives are expected to deal with the specific issue of pay next week.

The Irish Times reported earlier this month that the Government was expected to allocate about €250 million - €300 million for public service pay restoration. Such a sum could boost the earnings of staff in the public service on average by more than €800.

Any deal is likely to involve providing a flat rate increase in earnings by means of changes to the application of the public service pension levy which averaged about 7.5per cent.

The Irish Times also reported earlier this month, citing informed sources, that if the first €27,000 of income was exempted from the public-service pension levy, this would generate a rise in earnings for staff of about €800 per year.

There could also be some pay rises for staff who earned less than €27,000 so as to allow them to benefit equally from any such measure.

The new process is also likely to result in some restoration in earnings for retired public servants who experienced a reduction in pension during the economic crisis.