Cost of living Salary increase

paulac

Hi,

I was told by an employment law consultant that there is a cost of living salary increase of 4% that is due to employees every year, apparantly under the national pay agreements. I have never heard of this before, I know for sure that most ofthe people I know aren't getting this and I can't find anything about this on the net. Does anyone know if this exists or is it a load of crap?

Thanks

seamus

National Pay Agreements afaik, only apply to civil service workers and certain union workers.

There is definitely nothing in law which requires an employer to increase your salary every year.

Gone West

Only for civil servants man

ongarite

I'm on a company wide pay-freeze for the next year with FTO on the cards also to save costs.

How Strange

Any pay agreements only apply to people who are members of trade unions and civil servants.

If you're a regular joe private sector then you're at the mercy of your employer like the rest of us.

Riskymove

The last Deal T2016 provided for a pay deal of 10% over 27 months

Payment dates will vary for different groups of workers, but the first instalment in the public sector would come into effect on July 1st 2006. Most private sector workers were due increases from September 1st.

The Agreement is voluntary in the private sector and an employee' right to an earnings review depends on the terms of employment or whether the practise has been to make payment adjustments in line with national agreements.

The national partners have also finalised a series of new measures to deter abusive employers from exploiting workers. These include increased penalties for non-compliance with employment laws including prison terms and fines of up to €2,500.

paulac

Thanks for the replies! Just one other thing, if you are a member of a union and the company doesn't recognise unions, you wouldn't be entitled to it then. Is that right?

mikemac

Riskymove wrote: »

The national partners have also finalised a series of new measures to deter abusive employers from exploiting workers. These include increased penalties for non-compliance with employment laws including prison terms and fines of up to €2,500.

A good thing there is possible jail time. If the maximum fine was €2,500 then it might be worth it for an employer to disregard laws as the savings on wages would be more than covered by possible fines

paulac

I think there will be jail time coming in soon, as far as I know there is a new act coming in October/November called the employment law compliance act 2008. Makes a lot of employment law issues a criminal offence with serious fines and I think up to 3 years jail time for serious breaches! That should be fun!

Riskymove

paulac wrote: »

Thanks for the replies! Just one other thing, if you are a member of a union and the company doesn't recognise unions, you wouldn't be entitled to it then. Is that right?

its not that black and white

but if your company did not recognise unions its unlikely to voluntarily pay national wage agreements

any private company can voluntarily pay the agreement but it is likely to be one where there are unions etc, like banks for example