News
NICS: Implementation of Equal Pay / 2009 Pay / 2010-11 Pay
15/01/2010
Following the very clear democratic decision of members, NIPSA's Civil Service Group Executive Comittee confirmed to DFP the decision to accept the offer and sought further joint discussions.
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EQUAL PAY
As reported in the last NIPSA Bulletin the outcome of the ballot on the equal pay offer was that members voted overwhelmingly to accept the Management Side’s proposals for settlement of the equal pay claims for Administrative Assistants, Administrative Officers, Executive Officer IIs and all their analogous/related grades.
Following that very clear democratic decision of members, NIPSA’s Civil Service Group Executive Committee confirmed to the Department of Finance and Personnel (DFP) the decision to accept the offer and sought further joint discussions on the processes for finalising this major equal pay settlement for members.
We will be doing everything possible to secure the payments and revised pay rates for members without delay. We are asking DFP to clarify the likely timetable for implementation and we are seeking to have this agreed and published to members as quickly as possible. However we do need to advise members that all of the requirements for final settlement will take a number of months to complete.
We are required to consult directly with around 5,000 members for whom claims were registered with the Industrial Tribunal. To comply with legal requirements all these members will be contacted individually about withdrawing the Tribunal claims. To complete this exercise each claimant will need to be advised of their rights and agree to the payments to settle their equal pay claim. As a first step in this process we expect that DFP or employing Department will write to all staff in the affected grades confirming the payments due under the settlement.
When we have agreed the timetable for the above tasks and other implementation processes we will issue a further bulletin.
NIO, PSNI, NDPBs and all other bodies
In the last bulletin we advised that NIPSA would be seeking to ensure that the equal pay settlement terms for NI Civil Service staff would be extended to cover members in the AA, AO, EOII and/or comparable grades in theNIO, PSNI, NDPBs and all other bodies covered by NICS pay arrangements. We can confirm that the union has contacted all the bodies seeking discussions on implementation of the settlement so that parity with NI Civil Service pay is maintained for these grades. Again, we will keep members in these areas informed on all developments.
2009 PAY
At its meeting this week the Civil Service Executive Committee also considered the ongoing negotiations on the 2009 pay increases due to members with effect from 1 August 2009. The Executive Committee shares members’ strong concerns about the delay in securing a Management Side offer for a settlement. However, against the background of Ministers insisting that the 2009 pay increases must be constrained within Treasury pay remit limits, it is proving difficult to secure an acceptable pay offer that provides a fair ‘cost of living’ revalorisation of all pay points along with implementation of increments with effect from 1 August 2009.
The Executive Committee directed that further negotiations should take place urgently to secure an offer for consideration by members.
2010/2011 PAY
We need to alert members that the next pay round in 2010 is also likely to be difficult. Just before Christmas we received from Management Side a formal notice of intention to terminate the current pay agreement for the NI Civil Service. This action appears to have been prompted by the recent publication of the Treasury’s 2010 pay remit guidance to Departments in the Home Civil Service limiting all pay increases, including incremental progression increases, to just 2%.
NIPSA will be strongly disputing the intention to terminate our current agreement which incorporates the right of members to receive annual progression step increases within grade pay bands.
Yours sincerely
JOHN COREY
General Secretary
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