Nurses refuse to work with pay review process

The Government-sponsored benchmarking body has hit an early obstacle with a decision by the Irish Nurses' Organisation to refuse to co-operate with it.

The trade union, which represents more than 30,000 healthcare workers, said yesterday it would pursue a "go-it-alone" strategy after it failed to get a change in the terms of reference of the new benchmarking process.

The move came as the Government formally announced the composition of the benchmarking body, confirming that it would be chaired by senior counsel Dan O'Keeffe.

Minister for Finance Brian Cowen said the review, the second of its type under the national pay agreement, Sustaining Progress, would begin in the second half of this year with a report to be made towards the end of 2007.

However, INO deputy general secretary Dave Hughes said it would play no part in the benchmarking process as it had become an obstacle in the union's claim for a reduction in the nurses' working week from 39 hours to the health-sector average of 35.

In addition, he said, benchmarking would do nothing to reduce the pay gap which had recently opened up between nurses and social care workers due to a special payment that had been made to the latter in 2001 to address a shortage in childcare.

The previous benchmarking body, chaired by Mr Justice John Quirke, recommended an average pay increase of 8.9 per cent for public servants in July 2002. Mr Cowen said: "It is too early to tell whether this review will find that increases are warranted for some or all of the public service groups whose pay is being examined.

"If there is little or no movement in private service salaries, beyond the standard terms of the national pay agreements on a like-for-like basis with the public service jobs, then the awards for the public service workers will reflect this."

The Minister said he would be seeking to ensure any payments arising from the next round of benchmarking were used to leverage productivity improvements across the public service.

Peter McLoone, Impact's general secretary, was also damping down expectations of large benchmarking awards. "The statistics we have seen would suggest there has not been much movement in the private sector over the last number of years. But a lot of that is just anecdotal," he said.

Public servants may also be penalised under the process because they have not been forced to pay additional pension contributions in recent years, unlike many private-sector workers who have been hit by a slump in the pensions market.

Among the members of the new benchmarking body are senior trade unionists Bill Attley and Thomas McKevitt.

The other members are Arts Council chairwoman Olive Braiden; John Malone, former secretary general of the Department of Agriculture and Food; Willie Slattery, managing director, State Street International (Ireland) Ltd; and UCD economics professor Brendan Walsh.