asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs when payment to all staff, outdoor and indoor, employed at the post office in Drogheda, County Louth, of moneys due under existing wage agreements will be made; the amounts and dates of payments of the current and the previous agreements; the arrears due; and when any such arrears will be paid.
Written Answers. - Drogheda PO Staff Payments.
375.
The unions/associations representing postal and non-technical telecommunications staffs throughout the country accepted the terms of the 1983 public service pay agreement in November 1983. The agreement provides for phased pay increases of 4.75 per cent from 1 September 1983 and 3.25 per cent from 1 February 1984. The increases and arrears arising under the first phase will, it is expected, be paid to all the staff concerned, including those in Drogheda, within the next fortnight. Negotiations on a general pay increase for staff in the technical grades of the telecommunications service are still in progress at the Departmental Council of the Civil Service Conciliation and Arbitration Scheme.
The previous agreement, which covered all groups mentioned, provided for general pay increases of 2 per cent (or £4.00 per week, whichever was the greater) from 1 December 1981, 6 per cent from 1 March 1982 and 5 per cent from 1 January 1983 and was fully implemented.
Agreement was reached in July 1982 for a special pay increase for technical grades in the telecommunications service of the order of 2 per cent from 1 January 1982 which was duly paid and for a further increase of the order of 11 per cent which became payable in accordance with the terms of the 1981 public service pay agreement as amended — viz. 40 per cent of the increase from 1 October 1983 and the remainder at a later date or dates to be granted. The 1 October 1983 increase was duly paid and the question of the payment of the outstanding balance is under discussion at the Departmental Council of the Civil Service Conciliation and Arbitration Scheme in the context of the claim for a general increase in pay for technical grades.