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A SECTION OF legislation that conceivably allows the government to unilaterally cut public sector pay is to be abolished.
A section in the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (FEMPI) Act, which gives the Public Expenditure and Reform Minister the authority to cut the pay or increase the working hours of some 292,000 public sector workers, is to be abolished.
Today, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin secured the agreement of Cabinet to delete Section 2b of the the Act as part of an amendment to the Workplace Relations Bill 2014.
Haddington Road Agreement
The section was introduced as “a limited contingency measure” in the event that the government was unable to reach an agreement with trade unions on changes to pay and conditions which eventually formed part of the Haddington Road Agreement.
This section would have allowed public service employers to take steps that would impact on non-core pay and working hours of staff in their organisations bring about savings.
However, the public service unions and associations signed up to the Haddington Road Agreement, which Howlin said this evening has produced a “significant dividend to the public finances while, crucially, maintaining industrial peace”.
The removal of Section 2B is in recognition that any requirement for this measure has now passed.
However, all other provisions provided for under the FEMPI remains in place.
Howlin said the legislation continues to be a necessary component of the fiscal consolidation programme to achieve and maintain the general government deficit target of below 3 per cent of GDP by 2015.
The amendment will be tabled next week at Committee Stage of the Workplace Relations Bill 2014 which is currently before the Oireachtas.
The IMPACT trade union welcomed today’s announcement.
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Speaking of power… the government should not have the power to give away our Water to a private company.
Our water maybe, but I fancy drinking untreated water less than I fancy paying for treated water piped to my door.
Kitty why don’t you send them on your bank card and PIN number along with your PPS.
Referendum, and Constitutional amendment please.
“Referendum, and Constitutional amendment please.”
Can we have a referendum on keeping the budget under control as well while we’re at it? So we’re not stuck in the future paying generous corporate welfare, massive bank bailouts, luxury public sector wages for mediocre services and sky high welfare rates.
A disgraceful, borderline fascist piece of legislation. Good riddance. And may it never happen again. Shame on the unions for not taking on the government on this.
USC was supposed to be a ” temporary measure” during the downturn. No sign of it being removed!
USC will be used to pay wage increases in the public sector.
Howlin also cut annual leave which is 4.5 days over next 2 years which means personally I will have 15 days leave a year. That’s not right. Ok roll on red thumbs.
Only 15? I thought the minimum legal requirement was 20?
It is.
Legal minimum is 20 if working full time, are you job sharing?
Are the governments pay rates linked to public sector pay?? Did the taoiseach get an extra €7000 in yearly wages when he reduced the top rate of tax by 1% in the budget????.
1%=7000 do you think our dear leader is earning 700,000 a year
Great stuff! Now they’ll all be happy to pay their water bill, thinks the Minister – he can think again.
Is so the Troika doesn’t put pressure on the government to reduce the public sector wages when Irish Water is abolished?
It won’t be abolished
Correct.
Their budget is in a little disarray, now that the 1 billion spent on Irish Water-and the hundreds of millions of income expected from poorer families and already factored in to government balance sheet; is not going to happen.!
Paddy Power has Denis O’Brian as the odds on favourite to buy Irish Water. At a knockdown price from his mate Enda….
Howlin’s last sweetheart kiss to his loyal supporters in the Public Service..
God knows there will be few other loyal voters for the “Labour” party in the next election.!
This public service voter gets to tell the Poison Dwarf himself where to go because he’s my TD. Howlin will never ever get a vote from me again, even if he gives me back the 20% wage cut, the USC and pension levy that have made life so difficult to get through over the last few years. Most people I work with hate Howlin for what he did and will not support Labour for a long time to come.
I’d bet what little money I do have that Howlin will take the coward’s way out – like all those FFers and Greens who screwed us over with the bailout – and retire on a few fat pensions.
The Govt parties are only looking after their core vote. Labour have abandoned the lower paid or unwaged in favour of public sector workers as has this Govt. But that narrow vote is barely enough though to elect FG – I’m afraid Labour, despite their buying of votes will go the way of the Greens and the PDs.
” Labour have abandoned the lower paid or unwaged in favour of public sector workers as has this Govt. ”
How so? Welfare has scarcely been touched, whereas public sector wages (while still, on aggregate, too high) have been reduced. Both have been sheltered broadly from the effects of the recession, compared to the general populace, particularly the real working classes who have had their pockets dipped into again and again to keep the boat afloat.
Benchmarking has two parts, Qualitative and Quantitative.
Qualitative – same job and conditions, same pay.
Quantitative. – unit output per head comparison.
Politicians forgot the Quantitative part. Now Political Parties Max your Tax to pay for it.
Minister for finance stated about 2 weeks ago the USC will never be done away with as it brings in 4.5 billion a year,So suck it up again folks.
I work for a private security company in the reception of a semi state body -public sector.
The people that work here would not last a second in the private sector they spend most of there time scratching the arse are smokeing outside the building the get flexi time they are highly paid they have a state pension when there finished in fact one man retired here last week he got his lump sum his pension and then was hired back as a contractor doing the same role he retired from.
The man in charge here was but in the role when his when his Fina Fail minster brother was in charge of the depertment that over see this semi state
Our polictal system is rotten to the core weather Fina Fail or Gail is in they treat us all as fools.
The fight we need to have is not really with the Lansdowne rd agreement. It is the FEMPI act (financial emergency measures in the public interest) because if we can challenge that the other becomes null and void. The Government is going to try and enact it for a 6th year if that happens we need to take a court case to force them to show that their running of the country has failed and they need to continue with FEMPI. Of course they will not be happy to do that with the election in the offing. #endfempi
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