Talks between unions and Government over new pay deal finish without agreement

Talks between the unions and Government over a public sector pay deal broke down on Friday night at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) without agreement.

A second national public services strike will be scheduled for Wednesday, November 11th, if no deal between the Government and trade unions on a new pay agreement is reached before or over the weekend, unions said.

In a message sent to public service unions earlier on Friday, Kevin Callinan, general secretary of Fórsa and chair of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions’ public services committee, said the 19 unions it encompasses should meet on Monday to get an update on the talks and, if no agreement has been reached by then, to discuss taking further action.

In the message, he says the strike, which would again close the State’s schools and severely affect health, local authority and other services, would allow for demonstrations in Dublin and other big urban centres by more than 300,000 staff affected.

The move comes as talks continue between the two sides at the WRC.

In a separate update to the 100,000 members of his own union, Callinan said the talks had been “lengthy and at times heated” and that while a deal remains possible “the Government has yet to put forward a credible offer, and it remains to be seen whether it will do so”.

He said it remains unclear whether an agreement can be reached over the coming days.

Referencing the prospect of another one-day stoppage, Callinan told members: “If we fail to reach an acceptable agreement by the weekend, it leaves unions with no alternative but to escalate the action.”

Senior officials from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform as well as the four union leaders participating in the main negotiations arrived for the latest session at 10am on Friday.

There had been some optimism that an agreement could be reached if the two sides pushed through the night on Thursday, but in the end it was concluded that their respective conditions were not close enough to continue past about 10pm.

Sources close to the process, which has been ongoing for two weeks, still believe a deal is possible, even probable, over the next 24 hours. However, several of the key areas under discussion have yet to be concluded despite significant progress having been made.

Arrangements for a second national strike on November 11th have to be put in place early next week as seven days’ notice must be given.

In health, the required notice period is generally three weeks but the unions believe they are covered by the original notice of action served last month and the continuing work-to-rule.

The potential for another national stoppage may be viewed by the Government side as an attempt by the unions to leverage their power as the talks enter what one source described as their “crunch period”.