€250m pay bonanza for 340,000 in civil service
Employees will get 'automatic' salary increases of up to €2,400
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HUNDREDS of thousands of public sector workers will benefit from a €250m pay rise bonanza this year, the Irish Independent has learned.
Despite the dire state of the country's finances, increments paid to civil servants and state agency employees moving up their pay scales are still being made to most of the 340,000 workers in the public service.
The perception of a pay freeze and the pension levy hitting public sector workers stands in stark contrast to the reality of state employees in permanent, pensionable jobs.
They are still seeing their gross salaries increase because the Government is allowing them to receive increased pay purely on the basis of time served.
So a pay 'freeze' in the public sector does not mean that workers stay on the existing salary -- unlike the situation for thousands of private sector workers, many of whom have actually taken deep pay cuts.
A recent survey by Lansdowne Market Research found that three quarters of private sector workers had agreed to take an actual pay cut to protect their jobs. Fine Gael last night repeated its call for the pay scales to be actually frozen for the duration of the economic downturn.
The party has found some civil servants at the top of their respective pay scales are getting wage rises of €2,400 for long-service. However, the Government is shying away from further angering public sector workers already reeling from pension and income levy increases.
A sample survey across a range of departments shows an average payout of €2,345 for the civil servants entitled to the long-service payments.
The pay scales in the public sector see most workers go up the scale each year, meaning their gross salary increases on an annual basis.
The public sector pay bill is costing the taxpayer €20bn a year.
Fine Gael enterprise spoke-sman Leo Varadkar last night said the non-payment of increments would save €250m this year, €500m next year and €750 the year after.
"Stay where you are. It's a genuine pay freeze," he said.
He said it wasn't right to be increasing public sector salaries "when the country is broke".
Mr Varadkar challenged every minister to state how many of their staff were getting long-service salary increments this year, but the main departments, such as health, education and justice, bizarrely said they don't actually have the information.
Average
However, the replies the party did receive show a group of 7,378 civil servants getting €17.3m, working out at an average of €2,345.
Long-service increments are paid to public servants who reach the top of their pay scale, after three and six years.
The Department of Finance last night confirmed €250m will be spent on salary increments in the public sector this year. "If all increments due for payment in the public service in 2009 were not to be paid, the saving would be somewhere in the region of €250m for a full year," the department said.
But a spokesman for the Department said Finance Minister Brian Lenihan does not have any plans to stop the increment scale.
The pay scales ensure those who are starting out in a post are not paid the same as a worker in the position for several years. "Increments are always part of salaries in a major organisation. You don't just have the one scale. To get their increments, there is a performance system," the spokesman said.
In the public service, a pay freeze means the actual rates do not also go up under national wage agreements, the spokesman added.
The Department of Education did not have the information available on the numbers getting long-service increments for Mr Varadkar, but have committed to providing it.
To date, it has failed to do so.
- Fionnan Sheahan Political Editor
