Union backs civil service £150m deal
Trade union NIPSA has recommended its members accept a £150m deal to end a long-running civil service pay dispute.
Monday, 23 November 2009
Up to 13,000 low paid mainly female staff would benefit from back pay, plus an annual increase in the civil service salary bill of between £20m and £25m.
Nipsa met to discuss the offer before recommending the deal to its members, who will now vote on the package.
A resolution of the long-running issue would pre-empt more than 5,000 pay claims pending with industrial tribunals.
Nipsa's general secretary John Corey said: "After years of pressing for equal pay failures in the Northern Ireland Civil Service to be addressed we welcome this offer as a significant step forward."
"We are pleased that the Executive Ministers recognised the validity of Nipsa's long-standing claims for equal pay for thousands of hard working low paid civil servants who provide public services day and daily."
A spokesman for the Department of Finance and Personnel would only confirm a written offer had been passed to Nipsa on Monday.
It is understood the offer includes a one-off settlement payment worth £125m-£140m to deal with the issue of back-pay.
The proposal also allows for an annual increase of £26m to the Civil Service paybill with effect from February 2009.
© Press Association