Pre-Haddington Road Agreement Hours

Unions and public sector employers have agreed on proposals for a new two-year public service wage agreement to inherit the old agreement, which was due to expire at the end of December. DOH Circular 2/2014 re staff remaining on current hours (pre 1 July 2013 hours) – March 2014 “The extra hours imposed to our members under the Haddington Road agreement still rankle with many,” McGuirk said. Until the agreement expires, more than 90% of public servants and civil servants will earn as much, or more than when wage cuts were introduced in 2010 and (for the best income) in 2013. Nearly a quarter (low wages) have been completely removed from the “retirement tax” introduced in 2009. The rest will make cuts in these payments, the rest being turned into “additional contributions.” Callinan said the debate on the reintroduction of working time before the crisis should be part of the mid-term review of the current Public Service Stability Agreement, which governs the pay and working conditions of most public service employees. This agreement builds on recent momentum to improve our public services and the lives of those who depend on and deliver them. Outsourcing, personnel and related issues Despite management`s attempts to significantly dilute them, the PSSA maintains all outsourcing protections acquired by unions in negotiations that resulted in previous agreements at Croke Park (2010) and Haddington Road (2013). While these two provisions are well behind the reinstatement of overtime introduced for some civil servants under the 2013 Haddington Road agreement, they offer options for employees for whom time is more important than money. They were the best thing that could be achieved through negotiation. The agreement also requires management to work with unions to minimize the use of temporary workers. And it includes guarantees on the use of internships, clinical internships, work experience and work activation measures, which state that there must be an “agreement on protocols” regarding these programmes.

Newcomers The term “new entrants” refers to people who started working in the public service after 2011 (and organizations related to it for wage purposes) when the government imposed, without agreement, lower pay scales for new employees. As with all previous public service agreements, work is excluded in situations where the employer complies with the agreement. The agreement provides for a binding procedure to resolve problems that arise without any decision on trade union actions. These restrictions do not apply to matters that are not covered by the agreement. As part of a mid-term review of the existing public service agreement, the country`s largest public service union will seek discussions with the government on reducing public service work time to pre-crisis levels. The applications relate to an additional 2 hours and 15 minutes added to the working week of lower- and middle-income public servants under the 2013 Haddington Road Agreement. The proposals were presented this morning at a meeting of the ICTU`s Public Services Committee, following the conclusion of negotiations in the Labour Relations Committee in the early hours of the morning. He said such a mid-term review was necessary to “strengthen the credibility of the agreement taking into account improved economic indicators and past revenue losses.” Although these lower scales (which were worth 10% less at each point on each scale) were removed at the request of the unions under the 2013 Haddington Road agreement, “new entrants” continued to have longer pay scales than their longer colleagues, with two wage points lower at the beginning of each scale. Some grades have also seen the elimination of certain allowances for newcomers.