Congress Public Services Committee approves Lansdowne Road Agreement

The Public Services Committee (PSC) of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions has voted to approve the Lansdowne Road Agreement. The deal was approved by an aggregate ballot of the PSC at a meeting on  Wednesday 16th September. The Lansdowne Road Agreement extends the main provisions of the Haddington Road Agreement until September 2018, and restores around €2,000 to the pay of most public servants in three phases between January 2016 and September 2017. The pay restoration will be achieved through a combination of adjustments to the public service pension levy and a partial reversal of the 2010 public service pay cuts. Individual unions balloted their members on the terms of the agreement through the summer months. The agreement was endorsed by members of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, SIPTU, the Irish National Teachers Organisation, MLSA, TEEU and IMPACT. In recent days the Civil and Public Services Union and the Irish Federation of University Teachers also voted to approve the deal. Shay Cody, General Secretary of IMPACT and chair of the PSC, said that the Lansdowne Road Agreement marked a significant step forward for workers after seven years of pay cuts, and reflected a growing trend for wage improvements across many sectors of the economy since 2014. “Workers in the public and private sectors have faced huge challenges during the economic crisis. Pay improvements across all sectors are a crucial element of the country’s continuing economic recovery. More money in workers' hands will largely be spent in the local economy, improving living standards and, most importantly, contributing to the job growth which has now developed,” he said. Public sector pensions were the subject of a separate engagement with the Congress Public Services Committee and the Alliance of Retired Public Servants during Lansdowne Road talks last May, as pensions are not directly covered by the agreement. Pensions will be increased by way of a reduction in the pensions related deduction (Public Service Pension Reduction – PSPR) made from pensions in payment.