No breakthrough at public service pay talks
Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation general secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha is one of the lead negotiators on pay talks. Picture: Leah Farrell
A breakthrough between unions and government representatives on a pay deal for 300,000 public service employees remains elusive after days of tension that boiled over at one point.
The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) urged representatives from the Public Services Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and the Department of Public Expenditure to let temperatures cool as negotiations continued.
Talks began last week on a new deal to succeed the public service stability agreement, which expires at the end of this month.
The Public Services Committee, which is made up of 20 unions representing most of the 300,000 employees in the public service, lashed out at the department on Thursday, claiming the chances of an agreement are now in the balance, and that the process is "extremely fragile", following a leaking row.
Public Services Committee negotiators accused the department of giving documents to unions not affiliated with the ICTU-backed group before they were given to those within, as talks went on.
It led to some unions within the committee saying they had effectively been blindsided and left out of the process.
Non-affiliated unions include: the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors; the Garda Representative Association;
the Psychiatric Nurses Association, the Irish Hospital Consultants Association; and defence forces organisations PDFORRA and RACO.
It is understood that the WRC attempted to diffuse tensions yesterday, but no agreement has been reached and any new deal remains in limbo. Talks are set to resume next week.
Public Services Committee lead negotiators are Fórsa general secretary Kevin Callinan, Siptu deputy general secretary John King, Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation general secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha, and Irish National Teachers' Organisation general secretary John Boyle.
Issues at stake, according to the committee, include those still outstanding from the Haddington Road agreement, which saw a number of austerity measures implemented.
Union negotiators are also seeking separate mechanism to address sectoral issues, and what they call "a realistic and acceptable approach to pay".
