Cowen: Pay deal will protect jobs and investment
A long-awaited national pay deal will help protect jobs and investment in the challenging months ahead, Taoiseach Brian Cowen said tonight.
The draft agreement was signed by the Government, employers and unions at 10am this morning after 22 hours of talks which went through the night.
Criticising the detail of the hard-won deal, Fine Gael claimed it would not deliver the reforms needed to rejuvenate the state’s ailing economy.
But Mr Cowen said the agreement will give a sense of confidence and stability in the challenging economic period ahead.
“The terms of the agreement are supported by Government given the wider economic and social benefits of a national agreement,” he added.
However deputy Fine Gael leader Richard Bruton claimed: “The big failure of these pay talks is that Fianna Fáil has once again squandered the opportunity to tie in the economic reforms needed to cut the cost of living and get the economy back on track.”
The wage deal provides for a pay increase of 6% for all workers to be paid over 21 months.
The money will be paid in two phases with a 0.5% increase at the end of the agreement for workers earning less than €430.49 per week, or around €22,463 per annum.
All private sector workers will have a three-month pay pause. They will then receive a 3.5% increase over six months, and a further 2.5% for the following year.
Tánaiste Mary Coughlan said the deal would help promote enterprise and protect existing jobs.
“Social partnership has underpinned the level of economic and social progress we have achieved in recent years and, through this renewal, it will continue to be central to our meeting the challenges in the uncertain times we now face”.
Ibec director general Turlough O’Sullivan said it may now take several weeks for members of all the organisations to consider the draft.
“It’s a draft but it was the best the parties could do under the circumstances. There are pluses. It sends out a positive signal to the investment community at home and abroad and it keeps the process intact,” he added.
Ictu general secretary David Begg said the draft agreement represented the best efforts of negotiators over a very long period of time.
“If we were to stay there until next Christmas we couldn’t achieve more by negotiation so it’s open to democracy now to decide,” he said.
“Everyone in the trade unions in the country will get a vote on this. It’s a very extensive process which will unfold over the next few weeks and months.”
In the deal, public sector workers will have an 11-month pay pause from the last module of Towards 2016.
The workers will then receive 3.5% for the next nine months and a further 2.5% for the remainder of the agreement.
