More than 5,000 civil servants, most of them women, are to receive more than €34 million from the State in settlement of an equal pay claim dating back 12 years, writes Chris Dooley, Industry and Employment Correspondent.
The settlement is described by the Civil and Public Service Union (CPSU), which negotiated it with the Department of Finance, as the biggest equal pay claim conceded in Europe. The vast majority of claimants will receive about €6,000.
The claim arose from the fact that up to the late 1990s paper-keepers, most of whom were men, were paid about £50 a week more than clerical assistants, most of whom were women, for doing similar work. The two grades were amalgamated into the clerical officer grade in 1997.
The settlement, approved yesterday by delegates to the CPSU annual conference in Tralee, Co Kerry, brings to an end a protracted campaign which the union began in 1991.
This resulted in December 2001 in the Labour Court awarding up to €35,000 each to 26 female employees on whose behalf the union had taken a test case. The potential knock-on cost to the Exchequer was estimated at the time at €50 million, as a further 2,200 cases had been lodged.
The Labour Court decision was appealed to the High Court by the Department of Finance, which initiated settlement talks with the union during the recent negotiations on the new national partnership deal, Sustaining Progress. Delegates yesterday had the choice of accepting the settlement offer or continuing to fight the case in the High Court.
Describing the outcome as a "tremendous victory" for the union, its general secretary, Mr Blair Horan, said it would be a boost to the union's members after the "disappointment" of the benchmarking outcome.
The CPSU, which represents about 11,000 civil servants in lower-ranking clerical positions, was one of the few public service unions to oppose the benchmarking report, which awarded its members a pay increase of 8.5 per cent, while those on higher grades received between 10 and 14 per cent.
The union has lodged a challenge to the benchmarking body's report with the Equality Authority, claiming it discriminates against its largely female membership. Mr Horan said the outcome of the paper-keeper/clerical assistant campaign showed that the union could use equality legislation to tackle low pay.
Under the terms of the deal worked out with the Department of Finance, the 26 women who took the initial test cases will receive the full payment due of between €30,000 and €35,000 each. About 5,500 others will get an equal share of around €6,000 each in a €34 million pay-out.
These comprise the 2,200 women who had subsequently lodged claims, and all other CPSU members - including a small percentage of men - who were clerical officers in October 1997, when grades were restructured, and have not been promoted since.
Some delegates expressed concern that those who had been promoted to higher grades, even in the recent past, were to be excluded. However, Ms Rosaleen Glackin, the union's deputy general secretary, who led the campaign to secure the payments, said this was necessitated by legal constraints.
Delegates voted overwhelmingly to accept the settlement, after being told by Ms Glackin there was no guarantee of winning the case in the High Court.
There was a loud cheer when Mr Horan told them: "It does feel good to be able to stand here today and take €34 million off Charlie McCreevy."
Beneficiaries of the settlement will include almost all of the 262 staff who are picketing Department of Agriculture local offices, having been removed from the payroll in recent weeks in a dispute about promotional opportunities.
The pay gap between paper-keepers and clerical assistants arose because of the Civil Service practice of paying married men 20 per cent more than other staff until the 1970s, when equal pay legislation was introduced.