More than 30,000 general operatives in local authorities and the health service have voted by almost two-to-one to accept a new "analogue" agreement which will give them a £12.65 a week increase, backdated to July 1997.
The increase is not technically a part of national agreements but it will add about £20 million to the public service pay bill. However, it does incorporate the 3 per cent restructuring element of the Programme for Competitiveness and Work. The overall value of the increase is about 6 per cent of basic pay, which ranges from about £200 a week to £230. Special premiums for working nights and weekends bring pay rates up to about £270 a week and a small number of these grades, such as hospital porters, can earn substantially more from overtime.
The workers had threatened to strike earlier this month after rejecting a previous offer. The agreement also includes productivity elements and a career development path. There are about 12,000 general operatives in the local authorities and 18,000 in the non-nursing grades of the health service.
The general operatives in the local authorities work in essential services such as refuse collection, water and sewage, street cleaning and public lighting. Their counterparts in the health service are hospital porters, orderlies, nursing attendants and household staff.
New working parties are to be set up as a result of the unions accepting the offer. These will report back on proposals to create suitable career paths for all these groups by the end of the current national agreement in July 2000.
SIPTU's national industrial secretary, Mr Matt Merrigan, welcomed the outcome of the ballot on behalf of the workers' joint negotiating committee. He said that the proposals went some way to addressing concerns about the lack of career development and attempts to introduce unilateral changes in work rosters.
The agreement provides for rosters and redeployment to be referred for further negotiation before implementation and there is a protection clause to guard against compulsory changes.
The chief executive of the Health Service Employers' Association, Mr Gerard Barry, welcoming the ballot result and emphasised the non-pay elements. "It is not just a pay agreement," he said. "We are establishing participatory committees to address other important issues such as service quality, training and the education requirements of staff."