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A PUBLIC SERVICE PAY Commission is to be set up to advise the government about pay for hundreds of thousands of public sector workers.
Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Paschal Donohoe made the announcement today at Government Buildings, stressing that the commission will make recommendations but not decisions on pay.
The commission will provide an initial report some time between April and June of next year.
Speaking at the announcement, Minister Donohoe said the main role of the commission will be “to provide input and advice to government for work in relation to how we deal with the affordability of public pay in the future.”
The commission’s work will be carried out against the backdrop of planned industrial action by teachers and gardaí.
Kevin Duffy, the former chairman of the Labour Court, has been appointed as chair of the commission. Minister Donohoe cited Duffy’s “thorough knowledge of industrial relations, independence and objectivity” as being “particularly critical” for the role.
Six more members will be appointed to the commission in the coming days.
TheJournal Politics / TwitterPublic Pay Commission is being set up says Donohoe. Chair to get €11k, other members to get €9k for the job pic.twitter.com/GX7NhlvKOw
— TheJournal Politics (@TJ_Politics) October 18, 2016
Unions
Minister Donohoe called on civil and public sector unions that have rejected the Lansdowne Road Agreement to engage with the government, pointing out that over 250,000 civil and public servants have signed up to the wage agreement.
“What the country cannot afford to do is go down the path of leapfrogging wage agreements, where an agreement is done in relation to one part of our civil and public service unions, that then triggers another wage increase from elsewhere,” he said. “That is why we have an agreement such as the Lansdowne Road Agreement in place.”
He added:
In discussions and negotiations in relation to public service pay, it is absolutely vital for the government and for me to be aware of those [public and civil] servants who are already inside the Lansdowne Road Agreement.
Earlier today, Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin told the Sean O’Rourke Show on RTE Radio One that the setting up of such a commission was long overdue.
Minister Donohoe said that the initial report of the commission will be to analyse how the unwinding of the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (FEMPI) legislation should proceed.
Additional reporting by Christine Bohan
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Don’t fall for this crap. This exact same commission was promised in both the Landsdown and Haddington Road agreements. It was supposed to finish and have a report 2 years ago!!! This is just a pure stalling political move to derail public opinion against the likes of the teachers and Gardaí.
The govt are again making more promises on top of broken promises.
Additionally, FEMPI was due to be unwound by 2017. With absolutely no action by the Govt this also prompted some unions to go to strike action. The Govt never had any intention of making good any of the agreements they signed up to with public service bodies, as such why should any public service body believe anything that comes from the Govt side: it’s action or strike, no commissions, committees, or inquiries.
I totally agree with you, a diversion to try and shine public opinion against Teachers Gardai Nurses. This is more spin by Don no who and Varadkar . This will not fool anyone, keep the pressure on, defy them to sack ye. This battle will be won.
They didn’t need a commission to decimate wages to pay off the bond holders
@The Throwaway: Don’t fall for this
It is a great ides for pay increase going forward but first of all they have to reverse the pay cuts
I cant see this government making it to Christmas
What exactly is this government expert at/paid for that they need commissions and assemblies to tell them what to do and anyone who thinks they’ll report back before the next budget is on drugs!!! Absolute BS!
Theres no money. deal with it.
Sounds like a way to dissociate the fact that Fine Gael led this inequality in pay initiative for public sector workers and now wants to distance itself from the repercussions
@Oisin O’Connell: What an ungrateful little overprivileged whiner you are! If you (or your unions) were interested in equality or justice you would be fighting for pension-equality and equal job-security for the less privileged folks whose taxes pay your fat salaries and gold-plated pensions.
Might suggest you look up Prof Frans de Waals Ted talk on consequences in inequality in pay for equal work- kind of explains the basics of all equality for people like you
They love creating commissions and kicking the ball down the road.
Gravy train picking up speed again
@Paul Madigan: Grab it quick!! We’re still only â¬190 billion in debt, but all these guys need to grab their slice of the pie from their mates in the goverment before any notions of fairness and making things equitable for graduates and taxpayers.
@Paul Madigan: Yup, you put your finger on it. The only ray of hope is that, finally, they are going to take public service pensions into account in evaluating the real value of PS remuneration. Well, almost. If they were to do a real back-to-back comparison they would also need to do an actuarial evaluation of PS job-security (Not to be sneezed at when it comes to getting mortgage and loan approval)
Why do we pay these politicians all this cash when they cant or are incapable of reaching simple decision without a dam adviser
God, this gov is a complete shambolic mess!
@Alien8, just to remind you all public sector workers are taxpayers and a large percentage are graduates. So, so tired of this public v private rubbish…………..
Will benchmarks be taken for equivalent positions in other countries with cost of living taken into account? Can recommendations, both upwards and downwards, be made and acted on with equal conviction? Fairness to all taxpayers, private and public must prevail.
And was there any pay commission set up to decide if the politicians should get pay rises.
Why should there be an investigation into pay rises for nurses, teachers, garda, and none for poltiicians.
How much are the commision being paid
Over €1b increases in the last budget exclusively for public service pay, including rises for Guards, Teachers (who sign up to the pay rises) and Health. Zero reduction in taxes for private sector, but a statement that the government now spend €12k per person in the country (thats €72k committed from my pocket, as a family of six with none claiming on the state). How do the public sector react to this increase in pay at the expense of the private sector – plead “intolerable” living conditions and strike. Each and every one of them that gave away their rights to these union charlatans should be made work in the private sector for a year, and cop on to the good thing that they have.
Striking for more private cash, while treating graduate guards, nurses and teachers like crap – disgraceful.
btw – In case you missed the bonanza for you PS guys, who don’t see that you are getting everything extra claimed this year:
Total increases in spending: €4b
Health: €1b (topped up by €500m)
Education: €500m
Gardai: €28m (new recruits)
On top of the above which mainly deal with the recruitment issue, all public service employees that have signed up (the vast majority, apart from striking teachers) will get payrises out of €290m on top of their annual payrise “increments”.
Alien8, all those in the public sector pay taxes too and contribute to their own wages, do you in the private sector partially pay your own wages if your not self employed? I’m sick of this private vs public argument. All workers should be supportive of each other because after all we all have been hit by the decision to bail out the banks. We all share a common hurt in our pockets because we have the cheek to want to work and provide for ours elves, so cut out the me vs you cr@p. Every worker in this country has been let down by this government and should stand strong together and not divided like the government would like
Alien8, your last line there is exactly what Teachers, And Gardai ARE looking for. Equality for all, not half pay for recruits. Restore what was taken under FEMPI.
Here here, I worked in both private and public sector. I changed for lifestyle reasons but I was making a lot more money in the private sector, with commission, Christmas bonuses, promotional trips away, company car etc etc. None of which are possible now. So the grass is not always greener. Nurses, gardai, firefighters, prison officers etc have NO comparable job in the private space. So the whole us versus them just doesn’t wash.
So the government spending money on the running of essential services is a ‘bonanza’ now?
there is no us v them, or ps v public, or equity. the only strikes are public service. the only beneficiary of the recent budget was the public service, yes, they pay taxes… the only difference is all increases in taxes for PS are down to increases in pay for PS, which come from everybody’s taxes. Don’t think that introducing some sort of them v us rhetoric that you can hide from the facts… a fair system would be for every tax payer (PS/Private) to reduce what they pay if we as a society have paid to much. instead, in this system, public servants decide to increase pay for other public servants. some sections of public servants are striking because they want increases in their pay, even though they are higher than average private sector taxpayers who contribute to (but don’t benefit from) them. this is unfair. I’ve repeatedly stated that new entrants should be on higher salaries, 20% below average. to get to this, you need to stop increasing those 20% above the average. that would be fair. what the strikers want is the same starting rate for new entrants, but keep their increasing high pay as well. this is unfair, on the new entrants who are being used, and everyone else who has to pay for it.
Alien8 so the two most recent strikes haven’t been private or semi state strikes in the luas and Dublin bus then. Public sector hasn’t strikes because they signed up to the reform over the last 8 years. Wages before then which they shouldn’t have been were bench marked against private sector and still people chose to work in the public sector even thought wages were below the comparable job. The public sector are looking to have their wages restored, not a pay increase but restored and this government have constantly lied and mislead official unions and representatives to the point where trust has been lost. New entrants were sold down the river on all fronts and now workers are being again asked not only to accept nothing but agree to work extra hours take on extra responsibilities with the supposed promise that in April or June that a report on pay and conditions will be forwarded for review, a report which was due two years ago, meanwhile this current government tote the fact they have agreed but to take a pay increase “which I welcome” as if they have sacrificed more than the likes of you or I and are the saviours of the country.
@Alien8:
Read your comment
Talking utter rubbish , you don’t have a clue.
I’m still analysing your response Willie, it made so many good points backed up by clearly identified arguments. At least sheedy got to the hub of one of the issues, which is increases for all under the restoration (which should not have been a condition, we need to reduce the pay bill and pension deficit, whereas this agreement, which spanned two governments, made promises to increase salaries and hold pensions for one sector when we needed coherent sustainable reform instead of temporary fixes). i do agree completely that it would make sense if these strike were solely for equity for new entrants, but the fact that the unions tagged on pay increases (restoration or rises, depending on opinion – it’s still an increase in the rate of pay above incremental increases) to those that the new entrants salaries look small against, that made it unfair.
I nominate Joe O’Toole to chair it….or is he already on another Commission??
At last they are taking public service pensions into account in evaluating the real relative value of public service remuneration. They should also put an actuarial value on public service job security (Anyone who has tried to get a loan will know that public servants find it far easier to obtain credit – including mortgage approval – because they are unsackable)
I would presume they actuarily evaluate public service pensions there will be major, across the board, reduction in ps salaries.
@Peter Murray, why didn’t you apply for a job in the Public Service?
great point Maria, wouldn’t it be great if there was no private sector, so we could all be in that panacea of services to the state where we all get a great wage, and pay for it out of the taxes from our salaries. Of course this perpetual motion of free money doesn’t exist. but good initial point – under the agreements, the final pension arrangements are not affected, so even though the pay was frozen, the pension obligations continued to rack up. for those with a private pension, that would be having a defined benefit (remember them) pension, and taking a year out, only to find that it had been magically topped up while you were away. You know that “magic”, that’s our grandkids savings being evaporated as well, but who cares – strike! more money! bigger pensions!
@Alien8 or anonymous more like it. Why didn’t you apply for a Job in the Public Sector rather than sitting on your backside and being bitter as hell.
This Pascal dude is slowly starting to look like that smarmy Hayes fella in Brussels
have your say