A REVISED PAY deal has been accepted by public service workers.   

It will mean pay increases of 6.5% over the next 12 months, spread across three increments. 

The new terms cover the remaining year of the Building Momentum agreement and were brokered amid the cost-of-living crisis.

While welcoming the deal, Siptu’s deputy general secretary conceded they “do not match” inflation.

“These are extraordinary times with high levels of inflation and resulting cost of living increases and, while these pay terms do not match these, they will go a long way towards providing real relief to SIPTU members in the public service and provide long-lasting improvements to their pay and conditions of employment,” John King said.

The ICTU Public Service Committee (PSC), which represents all ICTU-affiliated unions with members in the civil and public service, confirmed it has ratified the review of the Building Momentum agreement.

It follows a meeting of the committee this morning to consider the aggregate result of recent ballots by public service unions on the revised public service pay measures. The PSC will formally notify the Government and the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) today.

Once implemented, the pay deal will see an increase of 3% with effect from 2nd February 2022, 2% from 1st March 2023 and 1.5% or €750 (whichever is greater) from 1st October 2023. This is in addition to 1% or €500, whichever is greater, due at the beginning of October 2022.

A minimum payment of €750 a year from next October means the package would be worth 8% to a worker earning €25,000 a year and 7% to a person on €37,500 a year, according to the ICTU Public Service Committee.

“The Building Momentum agreement is now extended until the end of 2023. When taken in its totality it has, and will continue to, provide real benefits to members’ pay and conditions of employment, as well maintaining protections against the outsourcing of their jobs,” King said in a statement. 

“Given that it has a short time span, it is anticipated that we will be back in negotiations in 2023 for a new public service agreement to commence in January 2024.”

ICTU president and PSC chairman Kevin Callinan said there was a strong showing in favour of the pay deal, which reflected a recognition by workers that these pay measures will be helpful at a critical time.

Callinan added: “Unions do expect to be back in negotiations next year to secure pay terms beyond the lifetime of the current agreement, which will expire at the end of 2023, and unions will of course continue to closely monitor living costs and income pressures.”

All of the affiliated unions taking part in the ballot voted in favour of the proposals. The voting strength of each union is determined by the number of members it has in the civil and public service, and the overall result is calculated through a weighted aggregate of the outcomes of all the union ballots.