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Connect union says industrial action involving 2,000 craft workers will begin in three weeks after accusing the Government of refusing to engage on restoring the analogue wage-setting mechanism that linked public and private sector pay. The dispute is separate from wider public sector pay talks.
A trade union representing several thousand craft workers across the Irish public sector has announced that industrial action, potentially including strike activity, will commence in three weeks following what it describes as a prolonged refusal by the Government to engage on a critical pay mechanism.
The dispute centres on the dissolution of a wage-setting process that was historically designed to ensure that private sector pay and conditions informed the determination of terms for skilled tradespeople working in public sector roles. Connect, which represents electricians, fitters, plumbers and other craft workers employed across government departments and agencies including the Health Service Executive and its hospitals, balloted its members on the issue in recent weeks. Approximately 2,000 members are expected to participate in the forthcoming industrial action.
Crucially, the union has emphasised that this dispute is entirely separate from the broader public sector pay negotiations that have raised the prospect of widespread disruption across State services. The union's deputy general secretary, Brian Nolan, explained the origins of the conflict by pointing to a traditional mechanism through which pay and conditions in the private sector were assessed and the findings then used to help set the pay of craft workers in the public sector.
He stressed that this arrangement did not mean public sector staff would necessarily be paid the same as their private sector counterparts, noting the complexity of such comparisons. He cited the example of members in the electrical contracting sector who might earn €29 per hour while accepting that their pensions were relatively modest.
The intention was that information would be available to inform both sides of negotiations so that pay and other terms were sufficient to ensure the retention of staff in public sector employment. According to Nolan, the system was discontinued during the financial crisis, when union members felt they were acting responsibly but did not expect this to be treated as a blank cheque for the employer side to disregard established procedures permanently.
He accused the Government of drawing up the ladder after some engagement at local level, adopting a posture suggesting there was nothing the union could do about it. Connect had commissioned an independent report that it wished to use as the basis for discussions at the relevant commission, but Nolan stated that the employer side refused to attend.
Brian McAvinue, an official with the union, said that Connect members' pay rates in the public sector have increasingly fallen behind what workers with similar skills can secure in the private sector, with the value of the gap quantified at €4.40 per hour according to the outside report commissioned by the union side. McAvinue warned that this situation is not only unacceptable for members but also reduces the effectiveness of public services because employers cannot recruit or retain skilled craftspeople.
He called for the reinstatement of the analogue wage-setting mechanism for craft grades in the public service, which remained in operation until 2008. The union acknowledged that its members are acutely aware of the severe impact that withdrawal of their labour will have on the safe delivery of public services, but insisted that action is unavoidable because essential craft skills are already being lost from the public service.
Connect is part of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions' public sector craft group, which also includes Siptu, Batu, Optasi and Unite, all of which are parties to the dispute
Connect Trade Union Public Sector Pay Industrial Action Craft Workers Wage-Setting Mechanism
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