Unions to seek full restoration of pay if law abolished

Public sector unions will lodge a € 2 billion pay claim if Fianna Fáil abolishes emergency legislation – introduced during the economic crisis to cut pay – as promised in its manifesto.

The unions were responding to a row between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael over what provision should be made for public service pay in their respective manifestos.

Defending the Fianna Fáil decision not to give any figure for public service pay increases following the expiry of the Lansdowne Road deal, party spokesman on Public Expenditure and Reform Seán Fleming pledged to abolish the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Acts (Fempi) legislation over the next two years.

He said there would be a return to normal industrial relations mechanisms, in relation to setting pay and conditions with negotiations with the unions on pay restoration during that period.

However, gardaí, teachers, nurses and civil servants have said they will all seek the restoration of their original pay and conditions, which were cut following the economic crash, once the emergency measures are repealed.

Pension levy

Eoin Ronayne, the general secretary of the Civil Public & Services Union (CPSU), which represents about 13,000 lower-paid civil servants, said that if Fianna Fáil was planning to phase out the financial emergency legislation over two years, his union would be seeking the full rolling back of the pension levy, the public service pay cut and abolition of the requirement to work additional hours over the same period.

He said the additional working hours represented a further salary cut of about 6 per cent.

John Jacob, deputy general secretary of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) said: “We have been calling for the immediate restoration of pay to pre-austerity times.”

Teachers’ unions, including the ASTI and the INTO, also said they would seek the recovery of lost wages, the removal of the pensions levy and an end to lower salary scales for new teachers.

The reversal of cuts would cost the exchequer € 2.2 billion.

Fine Gael has said it will not abolish the Fempi legislation.

The party strongly attacked Fianna Fáil for failing to provide for public service pay increases over the next five years. Fine Gael has allowed for € 1.2 billion to cover pay rises when the Lansdowne Road agreement runs out.

At a press conference Minister for Finance Michael Noonan claimed there was a glaring error in the Fianna Fáil calculations which showed that the party was still unfit for office.

No provision

Flanked by Cabinet colleague Simon Coveney and Minister of State Simon Harris Mr Noonan said there was a € 1.23 billion hole in the Fianna Fáil manifesto as it made no provision for public pay increases after the Lansdowne Road agreement expires in 2018.

He said this was the Fianna Fáil version of the black hole of Calcutta and questioned whether the independent experts who had costed the party’s manifesto had been instructed to ignore it. “They are either being deceptive or incompetent. I think they are being deceptive. They are supposed to have costed this programme with some consultant in the UK.”

The Minister said this was classic old-fashioned Fianna Fáil deception and the party had still not learned the difference between fact and fiction.

Mr Noonan, also launched an attack on Sinn Féin in an effort to recover momentum for Fine Gael as the campaign enters its last week. He rejected claims that Fine Gael had miscalculated its USC figures.