Trade Unions representing more than 200,000 public service workers have made no specific pay claim in their overall submission to the Government's Benchmarking Body, The Irish Times has learned.
However, they have argued that public service workers' pay should be set "at levels which correspond to the higher levels of pay" in comparable private sector jobs. The public services committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU), which makes its submission to the Benchmarking Body later today, argues that comparisons with public service workers in other countries are irrelevant.
It also warns the body it has "serious doubts" about the introduction of performance-related pay (PRP). PRP, like "gain-sharing", should be left for direct negotiations with employers at local level, according to ICTU.
All public service unions except the Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland, are represented on the ICTU committee. Unions are also making individual submissions today but it is the ICTU document that will set the framework. Apart from the Irish National Teachers' Organisation, which is seeking increases of up to 30 per cent on top of the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness pay rises, most unions are expected to follow the ICTU line and not make percentage claims at this stage.
While other unions appreciate the pressure teachers' unions within congress are under to compete with the ASTI's militancy, most of them feel that setting high percentage targets before the body carries out research on pay rates and conditions in the private and public sectors is meaningless. Besides, unions could face problems convincing the body that average public service rates have fallen behind the private sector, given generous local bargaining increases under the "restructuring" clause of the Programme for Competitiveness and Work.
However, IMPACT general secretary Mr Peter McLoone, who is chairman of ICTU's public services committee, said yesterday, "We're confident the research carried out by the Benchmarking Body will demonstrate that pay rates in the public service have fallen behind equivalent rates in the private sector and have contributed to increasing recruitment and retention problems in the public service." He gave examples such as "the residential childcare area, where responsibilities are very high and pay very low. Even in administrative and managerial grades, people are paid well behind rates in the private sector."
This will be the first time in the history of the State that pay rates will be comprehensively compared, not only between public and private sectors, but within the public service. The Benchmarking Body will not be looking at average earnings but direct equivalents, where possible.
The main aim of ICTU's submission, which has been seen by The Irish Times, is to align public service pay with the "upper quartile" of comparable earnings in the private sector. It argues that the State can afford to do this and must do so to attract the best workers and maintain quality of service.
It says this approach will require higher entry rates, shorter incremental scales and higher pay at the top for long-service employees. In contrast, the public services committee "takes a reserved position as regards Performance-Related Pay systems" and "has serious doubts" about it being "truly viable" in the public service. It describes PRP deals "at the level of Government departments or equivalent bodies" as "nonsense". It warns the Benchmarking Body that PRP "could not be seen as a replacement for general rounds of pay increases", but "an add-on" to be financed separately. It also urges caution "as regards any changes from the principle of incremental structures".