Pay Rise for Senior Management at Irish Water

Pay Rise for Senior Management at Irish Water

The Labour Relations CommiBack dated Pay rise for Senior Management at Irish Waterssion has announced that Senior Management in Irish Water will receive an annual pay rise of 1.5 percent to 3 percent.  Unions had brought the matter to the LRC last November 2014 after Ervia had suspended the performance related payment schemes. Anna Perry, Deputy Director of Conciliation Services, said “It is regrettable that the company chose to unilaterally resile from the agreement that had been agreed in 2012 and introduced in 2013, particularly given its ongoing position that the pay model introduced in 2013 is the correct one for the company” She added that the payment schemes will be applied at the beginning of 2017. From now until then annual increments will be backdated from January 2014, and paid until the end of 2016.

Fianna Fail and Opposition Leader Michael Martin stated “The return of bonuses is an inevitable consequence of the decision to set up Irish Water the way they did. It’s not the fault of the frontline workers at Irish Water or the LRC which is doing its job, but whatever way you look at it, the Government has enabled a bonus culture at a utility that is squandering taxpayers’ money, racking up serious debt and actually investing less than before on bringing our water infrastructure up to scratch.”.  It’s further proof of the fact that not only were Fine Gael and Labour willing to break the promises they made to get into Government, they are continuing to break promise after promise made since they were elected,” he added.

Fianna Fáil Environment Spokesman Barry Cowen also attacked the Government over increasingly unpopular company, “This latest development further highlights the extent to which the Government has lost control of the Irish Water farce.  In December of last year, Minister Kelly went to great lengths to reassure the public that no bonuses would be paid to management staff at Irish Water in the event that the utility underperformed. To say that the utility has underperformed since then would be a significant understatement.”

Ervia said it had acknowledged the LRC’s proposals. This will cost Ervia an annual figure of €1.3 million. Ervia said that unions are going to vote in the upcoming weeks and they will advise them to agree to the LRC’s proposals.  It was noted in the ‘Pay Model Review Report’ that the past two years had been a very turbulent one for Ervia and Irish Water.  The decision not to grant the performance related payments had a very negative effect on staff financially.

Personally speaking, I think it was ludicrous for Ervia to have guaranteed performance related payment schemes for their staff before they had gauged how much money the company was going to make from consumers. Almost 50% of consumers have not paid Irish Water and they don’t intend to pay them. I think Irish Water should have fixed the country’s old pipes first before installing water metres. In certain parts of the state, the water is still undrinkable; they shouldn’t be expected to pay for water until this problem is rectified. I reluctantly signed up to Irish Water, and with a heavy heart I paid my first bill this month. I think more about trying to conserve water now. I understand that there is enormous expenditure in fixing leaking pipes throughout the country. I can’t say I am entirely happy about paying for water charges but I will continue to pay for them. In my opinion Irish Water employees shouldn’t receive bonuses because all public sector employees are still on a 10 percent pay cut. Why should other public sector employees have to take a pay reduction while Irish Water get a pay rise?

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