State sector agreement confirmed

A new agreement has been signed covering central government workers. It is divided into two periods, from 1 April 2014 to 31 January 2016 and from 1 February to 31 January 2017. In the first period there will be a flat-rate increase of €20 a month from 1 August 2014 and then a 0.3% increase from 1 August 2015. Bonuses and additional pay given in euros will also be increased by 0.73% from 1 August 2014. For the second period, if the cross-sector social partners cannot agree on salary increases by 15 June 2015, then the agreement may be terminated with a four-month period of notice. The

EPSU affiliate OAO reports that a two-year agreement has been negotiated in the state sector with 3.15% for pay over the period. However, state sector pay developments are linked to private sector increases and relatively high increases (12.8%) in the previous three-year agreement means that state sector increases were 1.48% ahead of the private sector. This means there is an effective pay freeze in 2011 to allow catching up by the private sector. The 1.7% increase in 2012 corresponds to forecast inflation. The unions are pleased that they have resisted the Ministry of Finance’s attempts to