3,000 Penneys staff to get 3.5% pay rise

ABOUT 3,000 staff working in Penneys stores around the State are to receive a 3.5 per cent pay increase.

The trade union Mandate said yesterday that staff concerned had voted by 94 per cent to 6 per cent in favour of a deal which it had reached with management under a Labour Relations Commission process.

The union said that under the deal the 3.5 per cent increase, which forms part of the national agreement reached in 2008, would be paid in two separate instalments. The first will involve a 2 per cent rise from the beginning of January this year, with a further 1.5 per cent to come into effect in June.

Linda Tanham, assistant general secretary of the union, said: “While Mandate recognises that some companies in Ireland are experiencing some difficulties as a result of the recession, there are others who have not been as affected as others. It is vital for this country, and indeed this economy, that companies in a position to pay the terms of the negotiated national wage agreement do so in order to help get this country back on track by generating more consumer spending in the economy.”

She said that the union would be “revisiting phase two of the national wage agreement with Penneys at a later date”.

There are 38 Penneys outlets in the Republic, employing about 3,000 staff.

Last month the employers’ body Ibec officially withdrew from the pay terms of the national agreement reached with the Government and the social partners in September 2008. This provided for an overall 6 per cent increase over 21 months.

Meanwhile, Mandate members in the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) have voted overwhelmingly in favour of a €40 million cost-reduction programme.

The deal will see 275 permanent jobs and 100 temporary jobs go across the three airports at Dublin, Cork and Shannon which are run by the DAA. The severance package consists of 6.75 weeks’ pay per year of service.

The deal also involves a pay freeze until mid-2011, reduced overtime rates and the introduction of a €1 million once-off fund to be paid to participating staff if the agreed cost-recovery target is met.