COLA: Workers get €9.90 wage increase, top-up for public sector employees

Workers will be receiving a statutory wage increase of €9.90 per week from January, the highest cost of living increase in more than two decades.

The COLA mechanism is linked to inflation and was agreed to by unions, employers and the government back in the 1990s.

With inflation running away this year as a result of the double impact caused by supply chain restrictions in the aftermath of the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the COLA mechanism has delivered the highest wage increase in at least 22 years.

Public sector top-up

The extraordinary circumstances also prompted the government to award a weekly increase of €3.50 to all public sector workers, over and above their yearly collective agreement increment.

The Finance Minister said this was a request by unions to avoid heftier requests for pay increases further down the line when the new collective agreement is negotiated.

In normal circumstances, public sector employees do not receive a COLA increase since the yearly increments are inclusive of any adjustment. However, the hefty €9.90 per week increase for next year meant that certain government scales would not be benefitting from the full adjustment. The €3.50 will make up the difference.

However, in the lowest scales, the €3.50 increase will still not be enough and workers here will be receiving a cash top-up to make up the difference.

Stipends pro-rata increase

Student stipends next year will also benefit from a pro-rata COLA increase that will amount to an additional €50 per year.