The SIPTU Public Administration and Community (PAC) Division Biennial Delegate Conference (BDC) took place in Galway on Thursday 3rd and Friday 4th October.
It was attended by over 200 delegates from every area of the public and community sectors.
The theme of the conference was ‘Our Communities, Our Services, Our Futures’. The two motions below were submitted by the Local Authority Sector and passed unanimously by delegates.
Pensions:
Conference calls for a strengthening of rights to ensure that regular and rostered overtime and allowances are included in pensionable pay. For years, Local Authorities have been able to depress pension costs at the expense of Local Authority workers through avoidance of regular allowances and overtime in the inclusion of pension calculations. This has frequently meant our members have either retired without any extra opportunity to increase their pension or have had to take individual cases to restore their rightful pensions at a time when they should instead be looking forward to their well-earned retirements. We are calling on the Union to support our campaign to tip the balance back to our members by ensuring measures are adopted to ensure their real earnings are included in their pension calculations.
Sick Leave:
Conference calls for the Union to seek a review of the Critical Illness measures contained within the Public Sector Sick Pay Scheme. In particular, we are seeking new measures to support workers who find themselves on extended periods of sick leave due to critical illness, following which it then takes four years before their sick leave entitlements are fully restored. This places an unfair burden on particularly Outdoor Workers, where previous reports have identified they are more likely to suffer prolonged and serious illness. We are calling on the Union to support a campaign to reduce the time it takes to restore full sick leave benefit to workers following being out sick due to Critical Illness.