asked the Minister for Local Government if he will state the text of the document issued to local authorities in connection with the interpretation to be placed on the National Agreement.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - National Wage Agreement.
37.
The terms of the national agreement include a provision for the interpretation thereof and accordingly no document on the lines indicated has been issued by my Department. As indicated in my reply to a question on similar lines which I answered for the Deputy on 25th November, 1971, circular letters requesting local authorities to co-operate in achieving the objectives of the agreement were issued. With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to circulate with the Official Report copies of the three circular letters in question.
15 Deire Fómhair 1971
Dear Manager
In a letter which I sent to you some time ago I stressed the heavy responsibility on public sector employers to avoid any action which might endanger the National Pay Agreement. Recent developments have made it desirable to stress the onus on them to be particularly concerned about its success.
It clearly would be unwise to assume that the Agreement is not going to come under serious pressure from time to time. Moreover, there seems to be a tendency, especially in areas where basic pay claims are not currently being processed, to seek improvements in other conditions of employment. Improvements of this kind may seem easier to justify than straight pay increases but often result in greater increases in costs, especially in the longer term.
It is, therefore, necessary that public sector employers should continue to exercise constant vigilance in regard to pay and other conditions of employment and that they should try to be consistent in their approach to claims for improvement. May I repeat that my Department and the Department of Labour will be only too willing to discuss any questions with you, if called upon.
I would like to stress again that it is essential that all claims should be processed in the context of the Agreement and that the clauses of the Agreement dealing with special circumstances (especially clauses 6 and 7) should be restricted to exceptional cases. It is essential that the Agreement be operated in the right spirit if its ultimate aim of substantially moderating inflationary pressures is to be realised.
I would also like to refer to proposals which are received from time to time relating to special annual allowances, ex-gratia payments, expense allowances, etc. and to emphasise that restraint on the general remuneration front could be considerably undermined if a trend towards special payments such as these continues unabated. It is, accordingly, desirable that, at a time like the present, local authorities should look very closely indeed at this question of such payments especially at the higher levels with a view to eliminating the submission of related proposals as far as possible. Any suggestion even of laxity in this or other sensitive areas can do damage—out of all proportion to the money involved—to the cause of restraint. I know I can count on your co-operation here.
Yours sincerely
Robert Molloy
To each County and City Manager and each Assistant County and City Manager.
23 June 1971
Dear Manager
The aims which the Employer-Labour Conference National Agreement sets itself, viz., a substantial moderation in the rate of increase of costs and prices, greater efficiency and industrial peace, go to the heart of our economic and social problems.
I should therefore like to take this opportunity, while it is still, as it were, being "run-in", to stress the importance which the Government attaches to the Agreement proving successful. This, of course, puts a specially heavy responsibility on public sector employers since representatives of State-sponsored bodies and of Local Authorities and the State in their capacity as employers have subscribed to the Agreement. We must avoid any action which might endanger the Agreement by an unjustifiably lax interpretation of its clauses. Such action would be all the more indefensible since the Agreement itself provides special machinery to handle questions of interpretation.
To illustrate the kind of problem I have in mind, I might mention two specific areas of possible difficulty. It would, for instance, be destructive of the purpose of the Agreement—and remove a whole category of claims from the strike restraint provisions— if employers were to take the view that some claims could be dealt with outside the Agreement. The aim should be that all claims should be processed in the context of the Agreement— whether under its general pay clause or under clauses dealing with special cases.
Again, the anomalies clause of the Agreement needs particularly cautious handling. Unless it is restricted to exceptional cases, it also could defeat the purpose of the Agreement. The Agreement provides for determination by the Labour Court of claims "to remove genuine anomalies in pay between different groups of employees whose rates of pay in the past have been related". In any significant cases of doubt it would be well to avail of this provision and so help to secure even interpretation in this difficult area.
Of course the Agreement is also liable to be undermined from without —by groups who contend that, since they were not parties to the Agreement themselves, it does not affect them and that they may, therefore, legitimately expect to negotiate better terms. It is vital that public sector employers should reject any such contentions. The Agreement is a national one, achieved only after a major effort, and must, if it is to survive, determine the approach of employers to all groups of workers, whether these groups were parties to it or not.
These are only examples of the kind of problem that may arise during the course of the Agreement. There will, no doubt be many others, some at least of which will be of interest to the public sector generally. My Department, and indeed, the Department of Labour, will be only too willing to discuss any such problems with your organisation if called upon.
Yours sincerely
Robert Molloy
To each County and City Manager and each Assistant County and City Manager.
E.L.227/15/42
E.L.371 27th January, 1971.
Confidential
A Chara
I am directed by the Minister for Local Government to enclose for your information a copy of Confidential Circular 2/71 received from the Department of Finance relating to the Employer-Labour Conference National Agreement. The Minister requests your co-operation in achieving the objectives of the Agreement and it would, accordingly, be appreciated if you would ensure, in relation to the local authorities under your control, that full account is taken of both the terms of the Agreement and the contents of above Circular in any negotiations (in progress or arising) on the revision of the remuneration of officers or employees of those authorities. Your attention is directed, in particular, to Paragraph 3 of the Circular and to the necessity for local authorities to satisfy themselves that any pay provisions related to movements in outside rates are fully within the terms of the above Agreement.
A copy of the National Agreement is attached.
Mise le meas
T. McCormack
To each County and City Manager and each Assistant County and City Manager.
Confidential Circular 2/71
Employer-Labour Conference National Agreement
A Chara
1 I am directed by the Minister for Finance to refer to this Department's minute of 19 Deireadh Fómhair, 1970, regarding controls on prices and incomes. You will be aware that, in the light of the National Agreement negotiated at the Employer-Labour Conference (copy attached) the Government decided to withdraw the Prices and Incomes Bill in the expectation that the Agreement would in fact contribute not only to greater industrial peace but to bringing about a significant reduction in the rate of inflation. It is essential therefore, that the State, which is party to the Agreement, should give no grounds for any complaint that, in its capacity as employer, it is departing from the restraint which it would expect other employers, in view of the terms and spirit of the Agreement, to exercise. This is particularly important in the case of those Clauses under which it would be possible for management and union to effect settlements without recourse to the Labour Court (or other established body such as an arbitration board). It should be borne in mind that the Agreement itself (Clause 11) provides machinery for determining questions of interpretation.
2 Clause 1 of the Agreement sets out the general objectives of the Agreement. Clauses 3 and 4 deal with the making of new agreements when current agreements on pay and conditions expire and set out the upper limits to be observed in new agreements. There are provisions in Clause 5 to cover cases where 12th round claims have not been settled and in Clause 6 to cover cases where genuine anomalies in pay exist between related groups. Clause 7 embraces terms and conditions of employment other than basic pay. Procedures in cases of dispute are covered in Clause 10.
3 The Minister asks for your co-operation in the achievement of the objectives of the Agreement and, in particular, I am to request that in dealing with all claims for improvements in wages or conditions of employment regard be had to the terms of the Agreement. In cases where Departments at present have delegated authority to vary pay rates in accordance with movements in outside rates, it will now be necessary for them not only to get sight of the formal settlement under which the outside rates have moved but to satisfy themselves that the settlement is fully within the terms of the Employer-Labour Conference Agreement.
4 The Employer-Labour Conference Agreement in no way obviates the necessity for seeking Department of Finance sanction where this is necessary under existing arrangements and when sanction is being sought, Departments should have particular regard to the considerations set out in the first paragraph of this Circular and, in addition, should indicate the Clause in the Agreement under which they intend to process the claim.
5 The Minister will be glad if the contents of this Circular are brought to the notice of all officers in your Department who would be directly concerned and if you would draw the attention of State-sponsored bodies under the aegis of your Department specifically to the considerations outlined in paragraph 1 and 3 above and seek their co-operation.
Mise le meas
S. Ó Conaill
May I point out that I did not ask for the terms, I asked for the text. The last time I was given the terms and the Parliamentary Secretary will agree, as a teacher, that the text is a different matter entirely.
We are giving it to the Deputy now.
I am getting the text now which I asked for first. Thank you very much.