Higher civil and public servants have voted in favour of supporting the Croke Park agreement on public sector pay and reform.
The Association of Civil and Public Servants (AHCPS) today announced the result of its ballot on the plan for 2010-2014 agreed between the Government and trade union leaders in March.
It said some 72 per cent of its membership voted in the ballot on the executive committee’s recommendation to endorse the agreement.
The proposal was carried by 1,936 votes to 330 votes, or 85.5 per cent to 14.5 per cent.
Welcoming the result, the association’s general secretary, Dave Thomas, said the deal offered the best hope of ensuring no further cuts in pay for public servants while also providing a mechanism for the reversal of pay cuts over time if the reforms deliver “verifiable savings”.
“Our members have suffered reductions in pay and pension entitlements of up to 17 per cent in the last 12 months, but they recognised that the alternative to this deal, namely prolonged industrial action in the present economic climate, will not achieve a better outcome.”
Mr Thomas said that aside from offering no further cuts, the agreement also provided for discussion on the method for determining pension increases for existing ublic servants in the context of the proposed pay review in spring next year.
He said the association had “consistently played a constructive role in the negotiations” and believed the deal was the best that could be achieved through negotiations.
The executive of Impact, the State’s largest public service union, yesterday reversed its position and urged members to support the Croke Park agreement. The move followed the issue of clarifications on the deal as well as a resolution to a dispute involving Impact members in the health sector.
Impact’s executive previously said it could not recommend the deal because of concerns about implications for existing agreements in the health sector and also because of the possibility the Government could walk away from the proposals if there were unforeseen budgetary deterioration.
The union’s central executive changed its position on foot of clarifications in relation to the agreement and a Labour Court recommendation which resolved concerns that the Croke Park deal could dilute pre-existing guarantees on job security on a deal reached in 2004.