The leader of the country's largest public sector union has warned that its members could vote against the next national pay deal unless it delivers significant pay increases and allows for a fundamental review of the benchmarking system for determining pay rises for public servants.
Peter McLoone of Impact said that his members had been the bedrock of social partnership in recent years but that the Government would be making a big mistake if it took their support for granted.
He said that union delegates had warned its consultative council that the mood among members was changing on foot of disappointment at the recent benchmarking report, high inflation and employment embargoes.
Mr McLoone made his comments in his union's newsletter, to be published today, following a meeting of its executive last week which considered the recent benchmarking report.
The report found that the majority of public sector workers should receive no special increases.
Mr McLoone said that there was a "credible case" to support the view of many union members that "the zero outcome was intended from the start".
He also warned that the whole benchmarking process was "dead in the water if the Government thinks public servants will sign up to a future process with a pre-determined outcome".
"The Public Service Benchmarking Body [ PSBB] made three crucial decisions that, I believe, more or less guaranteed that most would get nothing from its report.
"First, it changed the way it compared public and private sector pay. Most public servants are on long pay scales and in its first report the PSBB used the mid-point of the scale to make comparisons with the private sector. This time it used a "weighted average" of public service scale points, which skewed the average towards the top of the scales," he said.
Mr McLoone said the benchmarking body also included a disproportionate number of small and medium companies, which tended to pay less, in its private sector survey. "There's no doubt in my mind that the benchmarking body knew this would deflate the value of private sector pay and pensions and make a zero outcome for public servants more likely," he said.
Mr McLoone also criticised the decision of the benchmarking body to place a value of 12 per cent on the pensions of public servants. He called for a review of the benchmarking system and the two reports it has produced.