The Government has postponed for a year the next review of the pay of senior office-holders in the public sector. The decision has had a mixed reaction from trade union leaders.
The Cabinet, on the advice of the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, has decided that the Review Body on Higher Remuneration in the Public Sector should begin in January 2000, rather than next month. The forthcoming negotiations on a new agreement to succeed Partnership 2000 is largely responsible for the deferment.
The primary function of the Review Body, set up as a standing committee in 1969, is to advise the Government on the general salary levels for ministers, TDs, senators, members of the judiciary and higher civil servants. It was given a mandate to report every four years in 1991.
The last review, chaired by Mr Michael Buckley, reported in December 1996. Although its recommendations were accepted in principle by the rainbow coalition before it left office in 1997, it deferred the implementation of the increases in the run-up to the last general election.
The new Fianna Fail-PD Coalition implemented most of its findings last March, awarding Cabinet members an 18 per cent increase and TDs a 3 per cent rise, backdated to April 1997.
The increases set the Taoiseach's salary at £105,057; the Tanaiste's at £90,412; Ministers at £83,948 and Ministers of State at £57,668. The Chief Justice's salary increased to £104,796, and parity was maintained between the Army Chief-of-Staff and the Garda Commissioner at £78,350.
In its last report, the Review Body said that because it was first required to review the remuneration, terms and conditions of hospital consultants, its review of the public sector started a year late. It recommended that the next review start in January 1999.
Having considered the matter, the Government decided that it did not see this as creating a pressing reason to reduce the normal period of four years before the next review.
The president of SIPTU, Mr Jimmy Somers, has welcomed the Government decision, as has the general secretary of the Civil and Public Service Union, Mr Blair Horan. But it has been strongly criticised by the chairman of the ICTU's public service committee, Mr Peter McLoone. Mr McLoone is also general secretary of IMPACT, which represents county managers, one of the main groups affected by the pay increase deferment.
"If the Government reneges on its commitment, there is very little reason for top civil servants to resist the far better pay packages that are available in the private sector," he said. "Ultimately, the public is the loser."
However, Mr Somers said that: "Any group of workers can make a case for increases, but we've all accepted pay moderation in return for low inflation and tax reductions. I don't think people in the public sector should be badly paid, but increases have to be in the context of the partnership arrangements we've had over a number of years.
"The danger is that this deferment will be followed by a huge toe-up at a later date," Mr Somers said. Asked about the need to keep salaries for senior public-sector jobs in line with those in the private sector, Mr Somers said there was a need for pay restraint by senior managers in both sectors.
Mr Horan described the decision as fair and sensible. "One of the problems with Partnership 2000 was a perception of an unequal distribution of earnings", he said. "That was becoming a serious problem for the public service unions."
His own members have just completed a ballot on a proposal to withdraw from Partnership 2000. This was brought about by the fact that clerical workers in the Civil Service have received increases of 60 per cent over the past decade and people at secretary-general level increases of 120 per cent.
Mr Horan argued that withdrawal from Partnership 2000 would leave the CPSU isolated within the trade union movement, and his advice seems to have been heeded. Members voted by 4,500 to 2,756 to remain within the national agreement.