Updated 8.46 pm
A UNION THAT represents workers in the public service has welcomed plans to reverse pay and pension cuts in coming years.
In an interview in today’s Irish Independent, Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin revealed that these will be up for discussion in future with unions, but that a “orderly wind-down” is needed.
“We have to plan for that day and we have to have agreement with the public sector unions that it is not going to be a big bang,” Howlin told the paper, “because that would undo all the good work we have done over three years.”
Over a number of Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (FEMPI) Bills, pay cuts and a pension levy were imposed on the some 300,000 workers in the public sector.
However, the Minister has now signalled that these could be slowly reversed.
Howlin told the paper:
A day will arrive when the emergency no longer exists.
A spokesperson for trade union Impact told this website that the announcement is welcome.
“Impact, and a number of other unions, have been saying for a few months now that if the Exchequer figures continue the way they are and we get below the 3% deficit target,” they said, “it’s time to talk about pay recovery in the civil service.”
It’s welcome that the Government is now in the space where they can talk about pay restoration.
The spokesperson stressed that the restoration should take place only once the economy has stabilised.
Originally published 2.30 pm
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