Hi °C | Lo °C THERE were few surprises in the details of the Croke Park II deal as revealed by the Labour Relations Commission.
Much had already been revealed in terms of pay cuts for high earners, overtime and premium pay reductions and increases in working hours.
But some vague paragraphs raise questions, despite the assurances of unions and senior government officials. The devil could be in the detail when it comes to the concerns of state employees.
These include the possibility of the Government coming back for more, so to speak, and the issue of compulsory redundancies.
Clause 1.13 of the agreement says that public service pay and related issues "will not be revisited" during the lifetime of the deal.
However, the next, and more woolly, paragraph says the Government agrees that if the commitments in the deal "must be revisited", then the parties will meet to discuss the implications.
It smacks of the old 'get out of jail' clause in the Croke Park deal part one, which allowed the Government to opt out in the event of "unforeseen economic circumstances".
Likewise, the Government's guarantee of no compulsory redundancies is unclear.
In the past few days, we were led to believe there would be no imposed job losses under any circumstances. But page 16 details the "exceptions" to this commitment.
Other little extras are likely to interest state employees. Although Saturday will not become a normal working day, the deal says Saturdays could be used to "cope with cases of peak work requirements" in the civil service.
There also appear to be more cuts on the cards. Full co-operation is expected with a government review of travel and subsistence, for instance.
However, the document also mentions the many items that bit the dust during the talks.
These include government plans to legislate to cut serving staff's pensions; a three-year increment freeze for everyone; the abolition of extra Saturday payments; and an increase in the distance that staff can be redeployed to 100km.
The document also says that revised salary scales will be prepared for some new entrants to the public sector in order to address the imbalance between their pay and that of their colleagues.
In the days that come, as politicians and unions argue the toss over the deal, public servants might be best advised to get a copy of it themselves and make up their own minds.
Irish Independent
