The union representing lower paid civil servants has warned that flat-rate pay increases for all public servants, regardless of grade, is the only just and fair way to restore pay.
Speaking at the Civil Public and Services Union's annual conference in Killarney, General Secretary Eoin Ronayne said the forthcoming public service pay talks are a vehicle to close the growing gulf in pay between the highest and the lowest paid members of the public service.
The general secretary told delegates there had been speculation of a 2-3% across the board pay award - but said that was not going to happen, as percentage increases would do nothing for their members.
If the pension levy was scrapped for earnings below €27,000, it would deliver a gain for all State employees equivalent to around €800 per year.
The gain would be structured in a way that would benefit lower paid workers first.
Where a worker did not earn enough to benefit from adjustments to the pension levy, an additional pay rise might be warranted.
Addressing the growing discrepancy in pay in the public service, Mr Ronayne said that between 1979 and 2009, the pay of a clerical officer rose by 529%.
However, during the same period, the pay of a secretary general grade three had increased almost 1,011%.
He told delegates that even with the austerity cuts, the secretary general's pay hike was still greater than that of the clerical officer.
He said lower paid public servants had been left behind by the Celtic Tiger while higher grades had steamed ahead and remained ahead.
He said the forthcoming public service pay talks were the vehicle they must use to close that pay gap.
He added that if that was not the goal, the CPSU would be out of there "like a hare from a trap".
He also ruled out conceding any additional productivity measures in return for pay restoration.
He noted that clerical officers had seen cuts of between 18 and 20% of their take home pay, a there had been no clerical officers recruited for seven years, and many members were dependent on Family Income Supplement.
'Civil servants down €80 - €100 post crisis' - CPSU
Civil servants at the lower end of the income scale will have to make up pay losses of between €80 and €100 per week to get back to where they were financially before the economic crisis broke.
Referring to reports that pay restoration could take the form of exempting income from the pension levy, he said that might be an opening position but that they had a long way to close the gap in pay.
The CPSU has passed a number of motions demanding full restoration of their pay cuts and the abolition of the extra unpaid hours they were required to work under the Haddington Road Agreement.
Delegates also say that if the additional unpaid hours are not reversed, they want to be paid for that working time at the hourly rates that applied before the economic crisis.
