Some 300 workers at Pfizer’s Viagra plant at Ringaskiddy in Cork should get an 8.5 per cent pay rise over two years, the Labour Court has recommended. The decision comes after the workers, represented by Siptu, sought a 12.5 per cent pay increase over the same period.
The 8.5 per cent rise would be backdated to September last.
Pfizer’s Ringaskiddy plant is the group’s largest production facility outside the US. As well as producing the active pharmaceutical ingredient for erectile dysfunction drug Viagra, the facility makes 17 other products.
In support of its claim at the Labour Court, Siptu cited Pfizer’s “exceptionally strong financial performance over recent years and also the current high rate of inflation in the economy”.
However, the union did acknowledge that the rate of increase in pay it was seeking was “over and above what has been achieved in the sector to date”.
In response, Pfizer offered a total pay increase of 7 per cent over the two years, front-loaded at 4.5 per cent for the first year, followed by 2.5 per cent for the second year.
Pfizer submitted that Siptu’s request for a total pay increase of 12.5 per cent over two years is out of line with pay agreements achieved elsewhere in the industry.
Pfizer also referred to a once-off tax-free gift voucher of €1,000 given by the company to all workers in February 2023.
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Pfizer argued that the €1,000 tax-free gift voucher, when grossed up, is equivalent to almost 2 per cent of pay for most of the workers covered by the pay claim.
Both Siptu and Pfizer referred to an agreement for a 9 per cent pay increase over 20 months negotiated in a named comparator company.
However, Pfizer’s representative told the Labour Court that the 9 per cent pay increase included a 2 per cent increase that the parent entity had sanctioned on a worldwide basis to counter the cost-of-living increases that followed from the war in Ukraine.
On behalf of the three-member court, deputy chairman Alan Haugh recommended a 8.5 per cent increase, with 4.5 per cent increase backdated to September 2022 and the remaining 4 per cent increase to take effect from September next.
Mr Haugh said that the court took into account the pay agreement achieved in the named comparator organisation and the once-off voucher payment made to Pfizer workers in February 2023.
Siptu sector organiser in the pharma, chemical and medical devices sector Neil McGowan said on Thursday that Siptu shop stewards will agree on a recommendation to members on the Labour Court outcome with a ballot due to take place in September.
