Bringing forward the payment of €1,000 due to most State employees next September by a number of months is understood to be one of the options being discussed in contacts between union leaders and Government representatives in a bid to ease growing tensions over pay in the public service.
However, any such move would cost the Government up to €35 million for each month this payment was advanced at a time when there is no money allocated in the budget for 2017 for any such increases.
There is a growing view among public service union leaders that "money will have to change hands" next year to tackle pay pressures in the public service following the recent Labour Court recommendation on garda pay.
This will see gardaí receive about €4,000 on average in increased remuneration next year. The proposal, aimed at averting an unprecedented Garda strike, is estimated to cost in excess of €50 million.
Ministers are expected to consider their options for dealing with public service pay demands in the coming week or so in the light of growing unrest among State employees over pay and amid warnings of widespread industrial action in the new year. Unions expect a new talks process on pay will begin after Christmas.
Official position
The Government's official position is that it wants to hold talks with unions on a successor to the Lansdowne Road agreement after the new Public Service Pay Commission issues its report, probably after next Easter.
The Government’s timeline would see the outcome of these negotiations with trade unions feed into the financial estimates process ahead of the Budget next October with any further increases for staff coming into effect in 2018.
However, the timeline is not viewed as realistic by the unions. They want the Government to convene talks on a successor to the existing Lansdowne Road agreement early in the new year, with additional money – over and above that promised under the current deal – being paid to staff in 2017.
The public service committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) – the umbrella body representing most of the public service trade unions – is expected to meet by the end of this week to consider developments.
The country’s largest union, Siptu, has already authorised its groups in the public service to ballot for strike action over pay.
However, its national executive council has asked the groups to hold off on conducting these ballots until next Thursday to facilitate the on-going contact between Government officials and the public service committee of Ictu.
Suspended strikes
Doctors and nurses have also threatened industrial action, while secondary teachers have currently suspended strikes which closed schools earlier this month.
A number of highly placed sources insisted that there had been no agreement arising from contacts between the Government and unions, and that ultimately the Government would have to make its own decision on whether to speed up the pace of pay restoration following the Labour Court recommendation for gardaí.
Some highly placed sources, however, said that among options that were discussed in these contacts was bringing forward by a number of months, perhaps to May, the payment date for the €1,000 due to most public service workers next September.
The Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe told the Dáil last week that he did not intend to provide any more than the €290 million currently allocated for pay improvements for public service workers in 2017.
However, he said the Government’s decision to accept the Labour Court recommendation for gardaí had “created a different set of consequences”.
Mr Donohoe has told his colleagues that he cannot reopen the Budgetary settlement for 2017, though several Ministers believe that a new public sector pay deal is inevitable, sooner or later.
