Sir, - Your highly inaccurate report, "Public service pensioners angry at 3 per cent award" (The Irish Times, November 6th), has caused anxiety to many pensioners.
You reported that public service pensioners will receive increases of "just 3 per cent". This is simply not the case.
Under the settlement announced on November 4th, public servants who retired before pay deals were concluded under the Programme for Competitiveness and Work (PCW) will now get at least the same percentage increase as staff currently serving in the grade and scale point from which they retired.
In other words, the principle and practice of parity between rises in public sector pay and public sector pensions which was sought by ICTU's Public Service Committee has been fully conceded by the Government.
A floor - not a ceiling - of 3 per cent was also agreed to protect those retired public servants who would have received less than 3 per cent were parity strictly applied. - Yours, etc.,
Chairperson, Public Service Committee, ICTU, Dublin 1.