ICTU Rejects Pay Restraint Call

With talks on a new national pay agreement set to begin in January, a senior trade union official has already raised the stakes, with a pointed response to a Government call for workers to exercise restraint in pay demands – which he believes is not credible, given the recent very high pay awards to Ministers.

Irish Congress of Trade Unions General Secretary David Begg said the Government's stance was not credible and would not carry weight with union members.

Trade union leaders and the Opposition yesterday criticised Government calls for workers to exercise wage restraint just weeks after Ministers accepted large pay increases for themselves.

In an address to the social partners yesterday, Minister for Finance Brian Cowen said "a realistic approach" to wage demands was essential if competitiveness and living standards were to be maintained.

He said that in preparing for new pay talks, it was "important that expectations are kept in line with the economic realities we face".

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern told the same meeting that in recent months the economic outlook had changed. Forecasts for economic growth had been lowered due to a combination of domestic and external factors.

Mr Ahern defended the recent pay increases for Ministers and top public servants which will see his own salary increase by €38,000. Trade unions would understand that the pay increases had been proposed by an independent mechanism, he explained, more in hope than anything else.

He added that implementing pay awards for the public service under the existing Towards 2016 national agreement would cost €1.7 billion.

However, Mr Begg said that having accepted its own increases in recent weeks, the Government could not credibly ask for wage restraint. "It is not a message that will carry much weight."

It would have been more prudent if the Government had decided not to accept the pay award to Ministers, at least for the time being, he said.

Eoin Ronayne, deputy general secretary of the Civil Public and Services Union, said that while pay restraint might be fine for people on high salaries, for his members earning €23,000 and upwards, belt-tightening was not an option.

(BMcC)