There have been significant breakthroughs in the bid to secure reductions in the government’s pay bill by agreement with a number of trade unions after the government revised key elements of its original proposals regarding pay cuts and freezing increments for higher earners. This move was welcomed by a number of unions including the Association of Higher Civil and Public Servants, which had rejected the Croke Park II proposals last month. Trade unions SIPTU and INMO have made known they will be recommending the deal to their members, whereas the ASTI and TUI have refused to re-ballot members and remain against. Separately, a deal in principle was reached with organisations representing gardaí who had walked out of the process before the Croke Park II proposals were finalised. This agreement in principle is understood to be aimed at generating savings of between €16 million and €17 million this year. The new proposals shift more of the burden of pay and pension cuts to the highest earning civil servants and explicitly includes pay of politicians.
English: http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/0523/452135-haddington-road-agreement/
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/significant-progress-in-talks-between-government-and ...
For more information, please contact the editor Jan Cremers, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) cbn-aias@uva.nl or the communications officer at the ETUI, Mariya Nikolova mnikolova@etui.org. For previous issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit http://www.etui.org/E-Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net.