Under the terms of the new Croke Park deal one in seven, or 40,000, public servants faces a cut in their basic wage. The deal which was agreed with the Government and Unions late on Sunday night, in conjunction with the Labour Relations Commission, represents a landmark in collective agreements in this country, as the Unions stayed at the table out of fear of the Government legislating without them.
This is very much in keeping with what was seen as a Government catch cry during the talks that "it was better to be inside the tent and be heard than shouting outside it", which was in reference to a number of unions leaving the process and attempting to mobilise for strike action.
Martin Wall of the Irish Times put it best "The bottom line of the extension to the Croke Park agreement is that very many staff across the public service will have less money in their pay packet if and when it comes into force than they had beforehand. However, trade unions who stayed the pace in the negotiations have argued that the situation would have been far worse if they had not taken part. They contend that in reaching a deal they eased the severity of virtually all the measures originally tabled by the Government as part of its bid to secure a reduction in its pay and pensions bill over the next three years."
Under the terms of what is now called "Croke Park II", which was aimed at securing over €1 billion in savings, the higher paid members of the public sector will face a major hit under the deal with those earning over €65,000 per year facing cuts ranging from 5.5% to 10%.
The pay reductions rise progressively to a cut of 10 per cent from salaries above €185,000. Pay increments will also be frozen under the new deal. The alternative is a government imposed unilateral pay cut, likely to be in the region of 7.5% for everybody. The Government have admitted there had been concessions in the talks, including sparing the low paid from direct pay cuts, targeting higher earners and the scaling back of cuts to premium pay. Unions can also point to some victories with the Government’s original proposal for a five-hour increase in the working week for all staff diluted to a minimum 37-hour week with a maximum of 39 hours.
The Government plan to eliminate increments has also been modified. Instead a three-year freeze on increments will be put in place for those earning more than €65,000. For those earning up to €35,000, a three-month freeze on increments - the increment will cover 15 months rather than 12 - will be introduced. For those earning between €35,000 and €65,000, two separate three-month freezes will be put in place. For those already at the top of their incremental scale, they will be asked to contribute either through a reduction of six days in annual leave over the course of the deal (which runs to 2016) or a cash deduction from salary of an equivalent amount or the value of half of the last increment, whichever is the lesser.Further terms of the deal involve cuts to pensions of retired public service staff, who receive annual pensions in excess of €32,500. It is understood about 80% of public service pensioners receive less than €30,000, so the pension reduction will apply to a relatively small but significant number of retirees, and Taoiseach Enda Kenny is also not immune from cuts and will see his €200,000 salary reduced to €185,350, while Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore will see his €184,405 salary drop to €171,308.
Those involved in nursing will also see change with the demand that nurses revert to working a 39-hour week under the new Croke Park deal, which will be one of the most bitter pills for the profession to swallow. The nurses endured a prolonged work- to- rule in 2007 in pursuit of a 35-hour week but had to settle for 37.5 hours. The longer working week will mean a loss of income and is combined with a reduction in premium rates from double time to 1.75 times the normal hourly rate. A nurse's pay for a 12-hour Sunday shift can range from €417 to €604. These sums will reduce to €365 and €516 under the new cuts. The agreement includes some sweeteners, including the reinstatement of the senior nurse staff grade, which will benefit around 2,400 nurses who lost out when it was frozen in 2009. This grade will mean a 4.8pc increase for nurses who lost out since then.
The Unions will now take the terms to their union members, having said that this is "the best we could get", and a failure to ratify the deal will lead to Government legislating to impose cuts. SIPTU president Jack O’Connor has given a qualified welcome to the proposals. He said it was the best deal that could be “achieved by negotiation” and that the burden of cuts seemed to fall on those who could afford to pay it most.
We will see how the ballots come back after it is passed to the union membership, however as the Government are prepared to legislate for the savings it is hard to see the deal being refused by members, although the Irish Nurses and Midwives Association have said they refuse to be bound by the agreements.
