With inflation running at 4 percent, a 5 percent pay rise amounts in actuality to a 1 percent rise.
Public sector workers deserve more than the Stormont Executive is presently putting on the table.
5 percent is a disappointing offer for people going above and beyond everyday of the week.
The additional offer of a non-consolidated £1,500 only came about because of a 3-day strike threat by Translink workers.
Inflation was above 10 percent earlier in the year. This hits working people especially those with families to support harder than just decreased purchasing power for occasional luxuries.
Households have been hit with unavoidable higher food prices, mortgage rate hikes, rental cost hikes, car insurance rises and many other cost of living pressures. Workers and their families have paid a huge price.
Ministers promoting this offer before Stormont’s return should have made clear to workers joining the mass strike on January 18 that this is the offer they’d be making.
Would this deal have been applauded at the mass rallies across the North?
One percent over current inflation plus a 1500 once-off non-consolidated signing bonus isn’t a package that can undo the financial losses families have suffered over the last couple of years. And we know for many the damage goes back over decades.
It’s a further insult that Executive Ministers aren’t even pretending this is a negotiation.
Public sector workers should send the restored Executive the message that they deserve better and vote no on this offer.
