The Impact public services union has given evidence to a parliamentary committee on the Croke Park agreement. The agreement was negotiated in 2010 after pay cuts had been imposed by the government. Unions signed the deal to avoid further pay cuts and committed to negotiate savings across the public sector that would involve a reduction in the public sector workforce of 38000 by 2015 and cuts in the pay and pensions bill of €3.5 billion. A range of measures have been introduced to reduce spending including changing working practices and cuts in overtime hours.
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Union sets out progress in implementing national agreement
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Unions set to mobilise over failure to implement agreement
The FSC-CCOO and FeSP-UGT public service federations say they will organise action in September unless there is progress in implementing a key agreement covering workers in the state administration. The unions say that two months after signing the agreement no progress has been made in attributing occupations to the new pay structure and so there is a delay in paying workers their new salaries and any back pay. The FeSP-UGT also raises concerns about the failure to fully implement other agreements covering state workers, including ones on additional funds, mobility and temporary work.
Equality element of national agreement implemented
The two-and-a-half-year national pay agreement signed at the end of 2004 includes a provision for pay increases in 2006 to benefit the low paid and women workers in particular. On average rises for all workers should work out at 2.5% in 2005 and 2.1% in 2006. But higher increases for the low paid in 2005 and the 0.3% equality supplement for 2006 mean that over the course of the agreement workers in the cleaning sector, for example, should see pay rise by 5.1% while increases in the technology sector will be around 4.5%. EIRO also reports that around two-thirds of public sector workers are now
Union makes progress on implementing hardship allowance
After many years of campaigning by public service unions, the government finally included provisions in the 2021 budget to ensure that public employers could pay an allowance for work that is arduous, risky or poses a threat to health. However, any decision on paying the allowance is left to local level and so unions are approaching local authorities to negotiate over the allowance. The STAL local government union is currently focusing its efforts in the Portalegre district in the east of the country where several parish councils and a municipality have already agreed on the payment. STAL is