Sir, - I write in response to Mr, Dave O'Reilly's letter (January 13th) relating to the new national pay agreement.
Mr O'Reilly states that in the period 1987 to 1995, public sector pay increases far exceeded those in the private sector. What he fails to mention is that in this period, departmental secretaries received pay increases of approximately 100 per cent. This is why the public sector pay bill has risen so drastically. Low paid clerical civil servants received average increases of 36 per cent in the period 1989 to 1995, many of these being "catch up" increases after pay had fallen seriously behind the average industrial wage.
Perhaps Mr O'Reilly considers himself well paid. However before writing to a national paper on the subject, he should have looked at the pay cheques of his impoverished clerical colleagues and asked them how they would feel about a three year pay freeze. Mr O'Reilly should face reality and accept that he more than likely stands alone, among public servants, in his wish for a public sector pay freeze. - Yours, etc.,
Traders Wharf,
Dublin 8.