The organisation representing senior Defence Forces personnel will not recommend acceptance of the new public sector pay agreement, and has raised concerns about "side deals" for other public service grades.
The Representative Association of Commissioned Officers (RACO) which represents around over 1,000 senior officers in the Army, the Air Corps and the Naval Service has also criticised a reduction in a supplementary pension entitlement for post-2013 recruits.
In today's comments, RACO queried why they have been excluded from what they call "Public Sector Side Deals" revealed earlier this week which benefited some grades, but were not enumerated in the new public service pay agreement.
They include a €4,000 allowance for radiographers to attend mobile Breast Check units, a Livestock Allowance for technical officers in the Department of Agriculture, and enhanced rent allowance (in line with gardaí) for prison officers and firefighters.
RACO said that the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform had described these side deals as "commitments previously entered into but held back to coincide with the pay talks".
They cited the Department as saying the benefits for nurses were secured through Workplace Relations Commission-brokered agreements last March, while an increase in promotional posts for lower grade civil servants was described as a "normal realignment of higher scale ratios".
The two days' additional annual leave for longer-serving civil servants belonging to the Civil and Public Services Union (CPSU) and the Public Service Executive Union (PSEU) flowed from a recommendation by the Civil Service Arbitration Board that leave should be dealt with in association with the pay talks.
RACO said these side-deals are similar to the 2015 Lansdowne Road Agreement (LRA) negotiations where "Chairman's Notes" in relation to deals with individual sectors were not incorporated in the main agreement - though some were subsequently revealed.
RACO stated: "These deals, in addition to a range of additional deals secured by those Unions and Associations who either took industrial action, threatened industrial action or who's sectorial management negotiated added benefits to accept the LRA, undoubtedly have secured greater pay advantages relative to those serving in the Defence Forces."
RACO said their inability to take industrial action should not be used as a measure to ignore their concerns or disadvantage Defence Force members regarding pay and pensions.
It has also criticised the decision to abolish a supplementary pension for members who must retire at between 58 and 60 but cannot collect the state pension element of their retirement benefits until the age of 66 (with that age threshold due to rise in the coming years).
Up to now they would receive a supplementary pension to bridge the gap until the state pension kicked in.
However, at the recent pay talks RACO was told that the supplementary pension will no longer be paid for new entrants recruited after 1 January 2013.
This would mean that an officer retiring on a salary of €60,000 - who would have expected a pension of €30,000, will only receive €18,000 until they reach the state pension age of 66.
RACO argued that this cut for new entrants should not apply, given that the staff in question are barred from continuing to work up to the full retirement age.
The body is also frustrated that they do not have access to the Workplace Relations Commission or the Labour Court.
Meanwhile, Permanent Defence Force Other Ranks Representative Association (PDForra), which represents up to 8,000 enlisted military personnel, said it will not recommend the new public service pay deal unless it gets an assurance that members will receive a 'side deal' delivering the same €500 increase in rent allowance secured by gardaí, prison officers and firefighters.
General Secretary Gerry Rooney said that the PDForra executive had considered the extension to the Lansdowne Road Agreement negotiated last week - and while elements were unpalatable, it could be acceptable if the rent allowance increase were secured.
He said that when the issue was raised at the pay talks, the Department had said there was no mechanism for such a deal.
However, he said that did not appear to be the full story, given the side deals for other grades which have emerged in recent days.
