IMPACT may reject any new national pay agreement unless the benchmarking pay determination system is radically reformed, according to its General Secretary.
Speaking at the IMPACT conference in Kilkenny, Peter McLoone said that as far as his members were concerned, benchmarking was 'dead in the water', after not delivering pay increases to most of them.
IMPACT is Ireland's largest public service union.
Mr McLoone said that voting on the next proposed pay agreement, which is currently being negotiated, would be the first opportunity to vent their frustration about what they saw as a flawed mechanism.
But he warned if the outcome of the current pay negotiations included provision for another similar benchmarking proces he did not think his members would accept it.
Mr McLoone also stressed that public servants should not and did not want to lead private sector pay in the labour market.
He added that the gap between higher and lower paid workers in the public service should not be getting wider and the same standards of fairness must be used to assess the pay of all regardless of their place in the hierarchy.
Delegates at the conference endorsed a motion calling for a genuine review of the public service pay determination system to ensure that future pay comparisons are made with 'good private sector employers', that genuine reforms of public services are rewarded and that individual pay anomalies can be addressed.
Earlier, Mr McLoone said a new pay deal would be achievable, but it must include progress on social objectives and public services.
Speaking at the IMPACT conference in Kilkenny, Peter McLoone said that despite big challenges a deal was 'doable' if all the social partners had enough ambition.
The conference also heard that many school secretaries are suffering exploitation and poor working conditions with some barely earning the minimum wage.
