'Substantial' votes hinge on key policy issues - poll

Party policies on pay, healthcare, housing, childcare and flexible working hours are likely to sway the votes of "substantial majorities" of the State's 300,000 employees in next week's election, according to a poll funded by the largest public service union Fórsa.

The survey of 7,148 Fórsa members in the public service found that significant numbers were prepared to vote for parties they had not previously supported based on their policies on those key issues.

2.32 million people are now in employment, with the public service accounting for over 300,000 of the total workforce.

According to the Amarach Research survey, public service pay policy was either an important or very important factor in determining how 88% of the government employees surveyed will vote.

Of those polled, 63% were prepared to switch their vote to parties committing to introducing "inflation-plus" pay rises - while more than half of respondents (53%) ruled out voting for parties that did not give such a pledge.

The issue of additional working hours imposed on public servants during the economic crisis could influence the votes of over two thirds (68%) of respondents.

In the survey, 94% found it unacceptable that higher paid public servants would ultimately have their pay fully restored to pre-crisis levels, while those on lower incomes were still working the additional unpaid hours.

It also found 79% would switch to parties supporting a four-day working week or other mechanisms to reduce working time without loss of pay or productivity.

Fórsa General Secretary Kevin Callinan said the Amarach Research survey was the first significant attempt to identify the factor determining how over 300,000 public servants might vote in a general election.

He highlighted the survey finding that 99% of respondents intend to vote in the election - though 27% remain undecided about which party to support.

The survey also suggests that almost nine in every ten public servants would back parties pledging to increase investment in community health services, while almost four respondents in five would switch allegiance to parties committing to a large scale public home-building programme.

In addition 71% would back parties committed to supporting publicly-provided and funded affordable childcare for working people.

Almost two-thirds of respondents (65%) confirmed that they would switch their vote to parties committing to a referendum to ensure water services remain in public ownership.

On the gender pay gap, the Amarach Research survey also found that almost three fifths of respondents would switch to a different party if it pledged to force employers to publish their organisation's gender pay gap details. 

The key election issues among respondents were health (22%), housing and homelessness (18%), pay (17%) the cost of living (12%) and climate change (7%) - with tax trailing at 4%.

Fórsa represents 80,000 government employees across all sectors of the public service including health, education, local authorities, the community and voluntary sector and non-commercial semi-state agencies.

In relation to the survey's respondents, 73% were female - and only 5% were aged under 30.