2.5% increase deferred until 2010
The final 2.5% installment of the of the wage increase agreed for the retail sector in 2007 has been deferred until 2010
Print7 July 2009
As ShelfLife went to press, it was announced that the Joint Labour Committee for Retail Grocery and Allied Trades has allowed the second 2.5% wage increase due this year to be deferred for 12 months.
The fourth instalment of the increase agreed in 2007 under Towards 2016, and ratified by the Labour Court, was due to be given on 24 October this year. Following intensive talks between the JLC, retail trade associations CSNA and RGDATA, and the unions, the final wage increase has been put back until 24 October 2010.
Vincent Jennings, CEO of the Convenience Stores and Newsagents Association said that the representations made by over 600 retailers had influenced the decision. “People power does work,” he said, speaking after the meeting was adjourned: “they saw the sense in where we were coming from.”
Both Jennings and director general of RGDATA, Tara Buckley have been involved in the process for several months and were disappointed as the third 2.5% wage increase was enforced in April this year. Buckley had written to the Tánaiste urgently asking her to intervene in the matter but was told that pursuing it through the JLC was “preferred.”
The decision to defer the increase represents a significant victory for the retail sector which has been badly effected by the recession. Deferring the last instalment of the pay hike will offer some relief to businesses struggling with high costs and will safeguard jobs which would otherwise have definitely been lost, according to submissions from retailers across the country.
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