FDA rebuts bonus criticisms in letter to Belfast Telegraph
In a letter to the Belfast Telegraph (Not so rosy for civil servants, 4 June 2009) FDA Scottish secretary Jim Caldwell has given a robust rebuttal to criticisms made by SDLP Assembly member Patsy McGlone of bonuses paid to senior Northern Ireland civil servants, which were reported at the end of May.
Caldwell said that bonus payments are "not permanent and are non-pensionable" and were "ultimately authorised by ministers", and not, as alleged, by a "closed golden circle" of "top civil servants".
He added: "It is also a fact that pay for staff in the SCS is well below that of employees doing similar work in the private sector. All the available data suggests that, at this level, civil servants are paid as little as half that of their comparators in the private sector.
"It is a further fact that their pay is determined by a wholly independent pay review body."
Caldwell said that the union has offered to meet both the Minister for Finance and the relevant Assembly committee "to discuss these matters".