The publication by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions of a document outlining what taxpayers will get for the money paid in benchmarking follows an intense debate on the deal in recent weeks.
Fine Gael has called for the agreement to be re-negotiated, while IBEC says that the payments must be postponed if they lead to higher taxes. The Government has said that the money will be paid, provided the verification groups it has established certify that the agreed modernisation changes are made.
The document from the ICTU's public service committee makes many valid points in support of benchmarking. It is correct when it says that the old system of public sector pay had to be changed, based as it was on a completely outdated system of relativities. However it was important that it was replaced by a system which was transparent and encouraged modernisation.
The benchmarking process certainly fails the transparency test, as none of the details of the benchmarking body's work were published. It remains to be seen how it measures up in terms of encouraging modernisation and efficiency. However, notwithstanding the welcome changes which are highlighted in the ICTU document, the improvements negotiated as part of the new national programme were disappointing in many respects, lacking clarity in many cases and ambition in terms of the pace of reform in others.
There is still an opportunity to make some progress as a result of the deal - and it is encouraging that the trade unions recognise that the verification groups have a real job to do. It is essential that the engagement between the verification groups, the public sector management and the trade unions is real and genuinely seeks to deliver some clear improvements in service levels. Taxpayers are faced with a hefty bill from the agreement and they must be able to see a return.
If there is to be any future for a benchmarking-type process, then lessons must be learnt. Transparency in how the pay increases are arrived at is essential to show taxpayers the reasoning for them and this can surely be done while still respecting the necessary privacy of some information. Equally, the required improvements and changes in service levels must be central to any future negotiations and not an afterthought tacked on to try to justify increases already awarded.
When benchmarking was first mooted, the private sector was going through a boom period. Unfortunately this is no longer the case and the public sector must realise that like many private companies it has to accelerate its change and modernisation agenda significantly.